Why Shreyas Iyer is not in India's Asia Cup 2025 squad? 3 reasons behind PBKS captain's miss despite dominant IPL 2025 – sportingnews.com

Devansh Poddar
Sportzpics
Punjab Kings skipper and star India batter Shreyas Iyer has been ignored by the selectors once again. This time in India’s T20I squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025 tournament.
India announced its squad for the marquee continental event on Tuesday. The exclusion of Iyer surprised fans and experts, despite his excellent performances in the shortest format over the past year. 
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“With regards to Shreyas, not his fault, nor is it ours. It’s just that you can pick 15 and at the moment you’ll have to wait for his chance,” India’s Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar justified Iyer’s absence during a press conference.
The Sporting News takes a look at 3 possible reasons that led to Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from India’s squad for the Asia Cup.
Shreyas Iyer has been one of the most dominant T20 batters in the last year. The Mumbaikar also led his IPL franchise, the Punjab Kings, to the Finals after 11 long years. 
He ended the IPL with 604 runs in 17 games, with an average of more than 50 and a blistering strike rate of around 175. Iyer’s record in the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament 2024 was no less either. The batter scored 349 runs at an average of 49 and a strike rate of 188. 
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So, now the question arises – Why is Iyer not a part of India’s Asia Cup squad? 
Let’s look into 3 possible reasons for Iyer’s exclusion
The Indian middle-order is already crowded with batters such as Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Shivam Dube, Hardik Pandya, and Axar Patel, who play key roles and are consistently delivering for the side. In such a case, selectors would have found it difficult to find a place for Shreyas Iyer in the squad.
India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir often seems to be inclined towards playing left-handed batters in the middle-order. The lefty-righty combinations make it difficult for the bowlers and the opposition captain to control the game. This strategy to maintain a left-right balance might have led to Rinku Singh’s inclusion ahead of Shreyas Iyer.
More: Asia Cup 2025: Sunil Gavaskar dismisses debate over Yashasvi Jaiswal’s omission from India squad
India’s former assistant coach Abhishek Nayar highlighted that sometimes squad selection is much more than just a player’s form and fitness. Selection also depends on the vision and trust of the Team management, and it is about whom they want to include. 
“So, the big question here is that maybe they are not looking at him from a T20 point of view — or perhaps any other point of view. But I always say this that any selection after a while is, ‘who you like a little more than the other’. In that regard, maybe Shreyas Iyer is not liked as much as someone else. Maybe,” Nayar told Star Sports. 
MORE: Asia Cup 2025 standby players: Rules for injuries and replacements explained
While Iyer’s exclusion from the squad cannot be justified, his consistent performances and match-winning abilities make him a key prospect for the Indian T20I side. Iyer’s focus now is on making a comeback to the national side by scoring some big runs in the domestic circuit. 
Devansh Poddar is a content producer for The Sporting News’ India edition.

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