The BCCI recently announced India’s 15-member squad for the Asia Cup 2025, with Suryakumar Yadav set to lead the side. However, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra voiced concerns over the omission of Shreyas Iyer, one of the most consistent performers in recent domestic and franchise tournaments.
Chopra believes Shreyas Iyer’s absence is surprising given his consistent run of form and feels the right-handed batter has done enough to be in contention. Despite this setback, he suggested that Iyer could still make it into India’s squad for the 2026 T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka.
Chopra Questions Shreyas Iyer’s Omission
The Asia Cup 2025 will be staged in the UAE from September 9 to 28. The squad, announced on August 19, raised eyebrows with Iyer missing out despite his strong performances in the IPL, Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and Ranji Trophy.
“𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒔 𝑰𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚. 𝑾𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒔 𝑰𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐? 𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒂 600-𝒑𝒍𝒖𝒔 𝒓𝒖𝒏 𝑰𝑷𝑳 𝒔𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏, 𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒍, 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑺𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒕𝒂𝒒 𝑨𝒍𝒊 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒚, 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒅 𝑹𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒊, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈,”
Chopra remarked on his YouTube channel.
He further noted that the Asia Cup squad should not be directly linked to the T20 World Cup selection, as India still has plenty of T20Is to play before the mega event.
“𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑨𝒔𝒊𝒂 𝑪𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎. 𝑫𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝑪𝒖𝒑 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 15 𝑻20𝑰𝒔 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔. 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 15 𝑻20𝑰𝒔. 𝑰𝒇 𝒉𝒆 𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒔 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝑶𝑫𝑰𝒔, 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒓 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒔 𝑰𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎,”
Not Even Among Reserves
What stood out most to Chopra was Shreyas Iyer’s absence not only from the main squad but also from the five reserve players named for the tournament. He called it a missed opportunity by the selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar.
“𝑺𝒉𝒓𝒆𝒚𝒂𝒔’ 𝑰𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒕 𝒉𝒊𝒎 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 15, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒕,” 𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒓𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅.
The former batter stressed that leaving Iyer out of the 20-player list entirely does not send the right message, especially when other fringe players were accommodated.
“They haven’t kept it there either, and that doesn’t send a great signal. The clarity in front of Shreyas Iyer’ name is completely not there,” he concluded.
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