The BCCI has announced the 15-member squad for Asia Cup 2025, led by Suryakumar Yadav, but the exclusion of Shreyas Iyer has raised eyebrows across the cricketing world. The former India batter and IPL star, who impressed with a 600-plus run season, did not make it to the main squad or even the five reserves, sparking criticism from former cricketers.
Aakash Chopra Criticizes Selection Decision
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra questioned Iyer’s omission, highlighting his consistent performances across formats.
“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 𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒕𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒚. 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒅𝒐 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈,” 𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒓𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝑻𝒖𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍.
Chopra also stressed that Asia Cup selection should not be compared directly with World Cup opportunities, noting Iyer is likely to feature in India’s 2026 T20 World Cup squad.
Lack of Reserve Spot Sends Mixed Signals
Iyer’s absence from the five reserve players list has also caused concern. Chopra added,
“Shreyas’ name is not even there in the five reserves, and that is surprising. The selectors have kept Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Prasidh Krishna, but Iyer could have been included. The clarity in front of his name is completely not there.”
The Asia Cup 2025 is scheduled to be held in the UAE from September 9 to 28, with Suryakumar Yadav captaining the squad and fans eagerly waiting to see how the team performs without Iyer.
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