Gautam Gambhir’s stress on continuity and giving all players a fair run has taken its toll on Shreyas Iyer.
While Shubman Gill’s runs and captaincy in England were hard to ignore when the selectors picked the squad for the Asia Cup on Tuesday, Tilak Varma kept his place despite not having a good IPL 2025.
Shreyas, whose inspirational batting and leadership took Punjab Kings into the final, remained out of reckoning since there was not enough room in the middle-order. While it was a reflection of the abundance of India’s talent pool, it also served as a warning to those who made the grade — perform or risk being thrown out.
The top-order batter hardly put a foot wrong in the IPL. He finished with 604 runs at a strike-rate of 175-plus.
The chairman of selection committee, Ajit Agarkar, put it down well. “With regard to Shreyas, who can he replace? No fault of his, nor is it ours. At the moment, you can just pick 15,” he said at a news conference.
The debate is expected to linger on whether keeping out Shreyas was the right call. The balance of the squad and Gill’s assured presence at the top proved to be more important to the selectors.
Shreyas last played a T20I against Australia in 2023 where he struck a half century. His IPL form though has been outstanding. Besides leading KKR to the title in 2024, he led Punjab Kings to a runners-up finish this season.
The selectors had ignored his credentials for the 2024 T20 World Cup too. This after an excellent performance in the 2023 ODI World Cup at home where he scored 530 runs in 11 matches and was India’s third highest run-getter after Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
He maintained his form and performed admirably during India’s 2025 Champions Trophy campaign in Dubai. The 30-year-old was India’s leading run-scorer in the ICC event — 243 runs in five innings at an average of 48.60.
That his white-ball form had seen a transformation was proved when he carried it into the IPL. Yet he failed to break into the T20 side as Agarkar and Gambhir kept their faith on the tested crop of players.
It’s not just about Shreyas, IPL’s Purple and Orange Cap holders — Prasidh Krishna and Sai Sudharsan — also weren’t considered for selection.
The excess of riches has also forced the selectors to leave out Washington Sundar and Yashasvi Jaiswal, two of India’s significant performers in England. Both are among the standbys.
Shreyas’s exclusion didn’t go down well with Ravichandran Ashwin.
“Selection is a thankless job. You have to let someone out. When you talk to them, you have to go through that sadness and disappointment in their faces. I hope someone has talked to Shreyas and Jaiswal,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel 'Ash Ki Baat'.
“When you have Jaiswal as your third opener, you have brought Shubman Gill in the team by removing a person from the World Cup-winning squad. I mean, I am happy for Shubman, but I am very, very sad for both Shreyas and Jaiswal. It’s just not fair on both.”