The announcement of India’s squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025 has sparked major controversy, with chief selector Ajit Agarkar receiving sharp criticism for overlooking Shreyas Iyer. Former India captain and ex-BCCI selector Kris Srikkanth has lashed out at Ajit Agarkar, calling his explanation for the decision “nonsensical.”
Iyer, who captained Punjab Kings in IPL 2025 and enjoyed a prolific season, failed to find a place in the 15-member squad led by Suryakumar Yadav. Surprisingly, he was also absent from the reserve list, where Dhruv Jurel was chosen as the third wicketkeeper.
Ajit Agarkar, when asked about Iyer’s omission, defended the move:
“𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒔 𝑰𝒚𝒆𝒓. 𝑵𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒖𝒍𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒉𝒊𝒔. 𝑯𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒌 15, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕, 𝒉𝒆’𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒊𝒕,” 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝑨𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒌𝒂𝒓.
Srikkanth Calls Ajit Agarkar’s Explanation “Nonsense”
Srikkanth, however, disagreed strongly, insisting Iyer should have been an automatic selection given his form.
“𝑶𝒏 𝒄𝒖𝒓𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎, 𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒔 𝑰𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆. 𝑯𝒆 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 600 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑰𝑷𝑳 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒐𝒇 175. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒕. 𝒀𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒐𝒖𝒕. 𝑻𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒔𝒌, ‘𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆?’ 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒏𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕. 𝑻𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍,” 𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝑻𝒖𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍.
The former selector added that excluding a player in such form creates unnecessary confusion. “You’ve confused him now. For a player who has performed so well, this is not the message you should send,” Srikkanth remarked.
What Wrong Did Jaiswal and Iyer Do?
Iyer amassed 604 runs in IPL 2025 at a strike rate of 175, significantly outperforming several players included in the squad. For example, Sanju Samson managed only 285 runs at a strike rate of 140. Srikkanth also questioned the decision to leave out Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has been consistent in both IPL and international cricket, while Shubman Gill was brought back as vice-captain despite mixed T20I results.
“𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒎 𝑫𝒖𝒃𝒆, 𝑹𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒖 𝑺𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒖 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒔 𝑰𝒚𝒆𝒓. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒐? 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑱𝒂𝒊𝒔𝒘𝒂𝒍 𝒕𝒐𝒐 – 𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆. 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎?” 𝑺𝒓𝒊𝒌𝒌𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒉 𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒅.
India’s Squad for Asia Cup 2025
Main Squad:
Suryakumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh
Reserves:
Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal
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