A place could've been created for Shreyas in Asia Cup reserves: Aakash Chopra

New Delhi, Aug 20 Former India opener Aakash Chopra believes Shreyas Iyer should have been named in the reserve players list for the upcoming Asia Cup, citing that it doesn’t give out a great signal in terms of clarity over his T20I future.

Iyer had amassed 604 runs at a strike rate of 175 in IPL 2025 and led Punjab Kings to being runners-up in the competition. Despite making big improvements in his game against the short ball and hitting spinners for fun in the competition, Iyer didn’t find a place in both 15-member squad for Asia Cup and five reserve players list.

It was something which left former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar baffled and now Chopra has echoed in same vein. "Shreyas' name is not even there in the five reserves, and that is surprising. It's understandable that you couldn't have him in the 15 as you can't play him in the XI, and you wanted lower-order batters as backup, where Shivam Dube is there, and Rinku Singh will be given another chance, which is absolutely par for the course.

"However, a place could have been created in the reserve players at least, where you have kept Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Prasidh Krishna. Shreyas’ name could have been there, but you haven't kept it there either, and that doesn't send a great signal. The clarity in front of Shreyas' name is completely not there," said Chopra on his YouTube channel on Wednesday.

At the same time, Chopra thinks Iyer can still make it to India’s squad for the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup provided he continues to perform well in ODI assignments. For now, Iyer’s next assignment will be playing for West Zone in the 2025/26 domestic season opening Duleep Trophy.

"Shreyas Iyer not being there is a big story. What more will Shreyas Iyer have to do? What more can you do than what you have already done? You had a 600-plus run IPL season, took the team to the final, scored runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, played Ranji, and won the Champions Trophy. That's all you can do as a human being.

"This is the Asia Cup team. Don't attach the World Cup with it because there are 15 T20Is after this. The world changes in 15 T20Is. If he keeps scoring runs in ODIs, sooner or later, Shreyas Iyer will be part of the team. I have a strong feeling that Shreyas Iyer will be a part of India's T20 World Cup team," he added.

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