Who knows what is going on behind closed doors, says de Villiers on Iyer’s Asia Cup omission

New Delhi, Aug 23 Former South Africa captain AB de Villiers weighed in on Shreyas Iyer’s omission from India’s squad for the upcoming Asia Cup, saying, ‘who knows what is going on behind closed doors’ while expressing surprise over his exclusion.

Iyer, who has not featured in T20Is for India since December 2023, was not included in the Suryakumar Yadav-led 15-member Asia Cup squad announced on Tuesday by chief selector Ajit Agarkar at the BCCI HQ.

What left everyone surprised was his not being named, even in the five stand-by players list for the competition happening in the UAE from September 9-28. Iyer, 30, had scored 604 runs in 17 matches at a strike rate of 175 and an average of 50.33 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 while captaining Punjab Kings to a runners-up finish in the competition.

“I just read through that squad, and I was thinking where Shreyas Iyer can fit in. I’ve seen headlines and some fans being upset about his exclusion, and Shreyas will be the most upset because he’s played some really good cricket over the last few years. He has matured a lot and has shown a lot of leadership qualities,” said de Villiers on his YouTube channel on Saturday.”

“But who knows what is going on behind closed doors. Not me, you guys, and maybe not even Shreyas know. There might be a few things that have taken place over the years that have determined why he is not the flavour of the month for a certain tournament. I am not sure what the reason is because he will be in my team more often than not," he said.

De Villiers further suggested that certain past issues may have played a role in Iyer not getting a place in the Asia Cup squad. “Not talking about Shreyas here, but thinking about when I was captaining, if there is a 50-50 call between two players, I would always lean towards the guy that offers more from a team perspective, off the field.”

“When it’s 50-50 on the field, you have to start looking at other areas like ‘Does he add value in the team room, does he have a smile on his face, does he uplift some of the other players around him?’. Or is he sort of draining energy from the squad?”

“But maybe it’s got something to do with that. I am just taking a complete guess because it is weird that a quality player like him is not making the starting squad for Team India, especially with the leadership qualities he is bringing.”

“Maybe it’ll be too much of a clash with him there, and maybe there are too many leaders and too many captains. Maybe the truth will come out one day and we’ll know exactly why Shreyas is struggling to get into Team India,” he concluded.

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