Shreyas Iyer-BCCI fight resurfaces amid Asia Cup drama: "Was left out of Indian team for right reason"

Former India National Cricket Team player Sanjay Manjrekar has shared his bold views on the non-selection of the star batsman Shreyas Iyer in the Asia Cup 2025 squad.

Sanjay Manjrekar said that he was left absolutely shocked seeing Iyer not making the cut despite showcasing unbelievable form in ODI cricket and in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

He gets rewarded with non-selection - Sanjay Manjrekar

Shreyas Iyer has become the most-talked-about name in the cricket world since the squad of Team India was announced for the upcoming Asia Cup.

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The BCCI selection committee didn't recall Iyer to the T20I squad despite his recent heroics, and the fans and experts were left surprised by the development.

In 2025, Iyer has looked a different beast and is at the peak of his powers. He shone brightly in domestic cricket, carried his red-hot form in the ICC Champions Trophy, and then displayed a dominant batting performance for the Punjab Kings in the recent edition of IPL.

Many experts felt he was a sure-shot selection in the Asia Cup 2025 squad, but the Ajit Agarkar-led panel took a different route and preferred to recall Shubman Gill into the T20I squad instead.

Speaking about Iyer missing out on selection, the former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar, in a video shared on his official Instagram handle, said:

“Shreyas Iyer not making this T20 squad of India for the Asia Cup is just shocking. This is a guy who was left out of the Indian team for the right reason because they felt he wasn’t committing himself as much to domestic cricket. But it had the desired effect on Shreyas Iyer: when he came back again in the England at-home ODI series, the way he batted, you could see that he was just batting like he had never batted before."

Notably, Iyer was earlier snubbed from the BCCI central contracts for his decision to skip domestic matches after being left out of the Indian Test squad and concerns regarding his fitness. However, he returned to domestic cricket, delivered exceptional performances, and regained the contract.

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Shreyas Iyer didn’t put a foot wrong in that comeback series - Sanjay Manjrekar

Sanjay Manjrekar added that Iyer was the best batter in the IPL 2025 as he scored over 600 runs at an average of 50 and a strike rate of over 170.

Manjrekar felt that the selectors made a blunder by mixing formats and picking Shubman Gill over Shreyas Iyer because the latter displayed better T20 performance while Gill looked great in Test cricket.

"He didn’t put a foot wrong in that comeback series and then carried that form into IPL cricket. I don’t think any batter has had that kind of form throughout the IPL season, with the average over 50, strike rate over 170, and being the game-changer in the side with the bat. And he gets rewarded with non-selection," Shreyas Iyer said.

"So, when you do that to a player who has put in one of the best performances ever in the last few months in a format for which the Indian team is being selected, and you leave him out of that format, that’s for a guy who has excelled in a completely different format: Test cricket. Pick a guy who’s done well in T20 cricket, and not just because somebody has done so well in Test cricket gets rewarded with a T20 place, especially at the cost of somebody like Shreyas Iyer," he added.

I just find that devoid of cricketing logic - Sanjay Manjrekar

In the same video, Sanjay Manjrekar stated that he has seen the tendency of the selection committee mixing formats while picking players, which doesn't make any sense. He explained:

"It’s something I’ve seen over the years, not recently: this tendency of selectors to pick a player based on performances in one format, where that person excelled, and then picking him for another format.

"When I see a player getting rewarded for his Test match performances by being placed in the T20 side, I just find that devoid of cricketing logic. It just doesn’t make any sense.”