New Delhi, Aug 19 Former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar could not fathom the fact that India excluded Shreyas Iyer from the Asia Cup squad, announced at the BCCI headquarters in Mumbai on Tuesday.
The selectors sprung a major surprise by including Test team captain Shubman Gill in the squad despite him missing the last few T20I matches, chief selector Ajiot Agarkar addressed the decision to leave Iyer out as ‘ no fault of his. Nor is it ours.’
"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,” said Nayar to JioHotstar.
Iyer had scored 604 runs at a strike rate of 175 in IPL 2025 and led the Punjab Kings to the final in Ahmedabad, but failed to find a place in the 15.
Gill’s recall comes on the back of a strong IPL 2025 campaign for Gujarat Titans, where he led the team into the playoffs and amassed 650 runs in 15 innings at an average of 50 and a strike rate of 155.87. He also has an impressive T20I record, scoring 578 runs in 21 matches at an average of 30.42 and a strike rate of 139.27, with one century and three fifties. Notably, Gill is among the few Indians to have centuries in all three international formats.
Former India batter Aakash Chopra believes Gill’s inclusion ‘seals the fate’ of wicket-keeper batter Sanju Samson in the team, adding he is likely to be pushed out of the playing XI now.
"India seems to be moving in the direction of an all-format captain. With Shubman Gill’s return, Sanju Samson’s fate has more or less been sealed; he won’t feature in the playing XI now. You won’t drop Tilak Varma or Hardik Pandya, which means Samson sits out, and Jitesh Sharma will likely get the nod again. One thing is very clear from this selection: the batting slots have been prioritized over personalities. With Gill coming in as vice-captain, he will definitely play and open the batting. This essentially pushes Sanju Samson out of the XI,” said Chopra to JioHotstar.
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