Asia Cup 2025: India selectors continue to be unfair on Shreyas Iyer, one squad sheet at a time!

New Delhi: When Ajit Agarkar read out the 2025 Asia Cup squad, there was no mention of Shreyas Iyer in the 15-member list announced by the chairman of selectors on Tuesday in Mumbai. It made sense because it would have been nearly impossible to accommodate both Shubman Gill and Iyer in India's Asia Cup squad. Two right-handers, two top-order batters, and two one-dimensional cricketers.

In a T20I set-up where slam-bang and utility have remained the key words since the 2024 World Cup, having two batters of a similar mould would have been tough, and it seemed like a fair call.Until later in the press conference, the five standbys were named. Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar and Prasidh Krishna were announced in addition to the squad of fifteen and it was baffling to see Iyer's name not in the mix.

A captain who led two different franchises to IPL finals in consecutive years, walked the talk with the bat and was the unsung hero of India's 2025 Champions Trophy campaign with his composure in the middle-order.

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Is there anything else he needs to do? Not really. Was he unfortunate to miss out on the spot? Of course he was. But can we blame the selectors and think-tank for not including him in the final-15? Not really. But is it justified to not include him even in standbys? Of course not.

Agarkar reiterated this is not the squad for the 2026 World Cup but is definitely a strong hint of the direction selectors are looking in. What message are they sending to Iyer, who ended up playing an ODI earlier this year, and cementing his place in the XI, because of Virat Kohli's late niggle. Is there more at play here, more than what is visible to the naked eye? Is there an old, nagging issue which is affecting his selection chances? Because, it can't just be a cricketing decision at play.

He wasn't picked for the A team to England even after doing so well for Mumbai in the domestic set-up. The convenient reasoning has remained the same - "who do we pick him for?""With respect to Shreyas Iyer, who can he replace? It's no fault of his, but neither ours," was Agarkar's crisp response on Iyer's exclusion.Well, that's your headache to sort as the thinktank. Indian cricket can't afford to lose a gem like Iyer in white ball cricket - both ODIs and T20Is - and the management must keep that door open for Iyer, who can slot in at No. 3. It does add more right-handers than Gambhir would like in the top-seven but what he brings to the table and the fact that the T20 World Cup will be played in India, Iyer has to be a starter. He only has the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy to break through that door now and the swashbuckling batter would hope that remains enough to be in the mix for the multi-nation event next year.