 "Not our fault: Agarkar on Shreyas Iyer's omission from Asia Cup 2025 squad")
India batter Shreyas Iyer failed to secure a place in the squad for the Asia Cup 2025 despite a prolific outing in the 2025 Indian Premier League.
While addressing the media, chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar said that it was not his or captain Suryakumar Yadav's fault that Shreyas was not in the India squad for the Asia Cup.
The Mumbai batter last played a T20I in December 2023, scoring a half-century against Australia. In IPL 2025, he amassed over 600 runs.
“With regards to Shreyas, you need to tell me who he can replace,” Agarkar remarked. “No fault of his, nor is it ours. It’s just that we have to pick 15 at the moment, and he will have to wait for his chance.”
Agarkar blamed it on the abundance of T20 talent that makes it difficult to accommodate Shreyas.
"We have got some serious options in T20 squad...sometimes not the easiest squad to pick but good headache to have," Agarkar said.
However, the omission of Iyer might not be the end of the road for the Mumbai batter in his bid for a place in India’s squad for the T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka in 2026.
After the conclusion of the Asia Cup, India are scheduled to play 15 T20 Internationals — five each against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand.
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra said that the selection of the team was based on the position of players in the playing XI.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Nayar pointed out that one can select 12 players from the squad straightaway, as the selection was based on the exact position of the player.
"I can’t fathom or understand what reason could justify Shreyas Iyer not being part of the 20-member squad. I’m not even talking about the final 15, but the 20 itself, which sends a clear message that Shreyas Iyer is not in the selectors’ scheme of things, at least from a T20 perspective."
Nayar also observed that Iyer might not be favoured by the management compared to other players, highlighting the fact that the Mumbaikar is not part of India’s standby list.
While speaking on JioHotstar, Nayar added that if someone got injured then Riyan Parag would be the replacement.
India squad for Asia Cup 2025: SKY (C), Shubman Gill (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik, Dube, Axar, Jitesh Sharma, Bumrah, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh. Standby: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal
| Shreyas Iyer’s batting & fielding Stats in the Indian Premier League | ||||||||||||
| Year | Mat | No | Runs | HS | Avg | BF | SR | 100 | 50 | 4s | 6s | CT |
| Career | 133 | 23 | 3731 | 97* | 34.23 | 2798 | 133.35 | 0 | 27 | 314 | 152 | 56 |
| 2025 | 17 | 5 | 604 | 97* | 50.33 | 345 | 175.07 | 0 | 6 | 43 | 39 | 7 |
| 2024 | 15 | 5 | 351 | 58* | 39 | 239 | 146.86 | 0 | 2 | 34 | 14 | 10 |
| 2022 | 14 | 1 | 401 | 85 | 30.85 | 298 | 134.56 | 0 | 3 | 41 | 11 | 5 |
| 2021 | 8 | 3 | 175 | 47* | 35 | 171 | 102.33 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 6 |
| 2020 | 17 | 2 | 519 | 88* | 34.6 | 421 | 123.27 | 0 | 3 | 40 | 16 | 6 |
| 2019 | 16 | 1 | 463 | 67 | 30.86 | 386 | 119.94 | 0 | 3 | 41 | 14 | 8 |
| 2018 | 14 | 3 | 411 | 93* | 37.36 | 310 | 132.58 | 0 | 4 | 29 | 21 | 5 |
| 2017 | 12 | 2 | 338 | 96 | 33.8 | 243 | 139.09 | 0 | 2 | 36 | 10 | 3 |
| 2016 | 6 | 0 | 30 | 19 | 5 | 43 | 69.76 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| 2015 | 14 | 1 | 439 | 83 | 33.76 | 342 | 128.36 | 0 | 4 | 41 | 21 | 2 |