India's squad for Asia Cup 2025: The BCCI left the fans stunned and puzzled after they revealed India's squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025, as there were a lot of deserving players who were snubbed from the team. Considering the intense competition that exists in India's T20I system, a lot of players were supposed to get dropped. But none of them were as deserving as Shreyas Iyer, who redeemed himself and proved his naysayers wrong by performing brilliantly over the last two years.

Post losing his BCCI central contract last year, he took this setback in a positive stride and made a brilliant comeback by helping Kolkata Knight Riders lift their third IPL trophy. Cut to IPL 2025, he also changed his batting style and overcame his weakness against short-pitched bowling.

He was in sublime form throughout the season as he faced all the pacers and took them to the cleaners quite comprehensively. At the same time, his strike rate also improved and it had gone up to 175.07, which was quite better than his last year's average of 146.86.

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But neither his brilliant captaincy skills nor his change in batting approach were worthy enough for the Indian team selectors, who had ignored Iyer's brilliant comeback in the shortest format.

Although Iyer's batting prowess was ignored, it was Shubman Gill, who was brought back in the T20I side, owing to his brilliant performance in the recently concluded Test series.

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Shubman Gill, who was India's vice-captain during the T20I series against Sri Lanka last year, couldn't adapt to the aggressive style of play under the leadership of Suryakumar Yadav, who used to start his knock in the fifth gear. Gill, who isn't known for playing aggressively from the first ball itself, has been given the new responsibility as the team management wants him to become an all-format skipper of the team.

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Although Gill has been supported to transition into this position, Iyer, who has been waiting to smash huge sixes in the shortest format, has been told to wait for his chance.

“In terms of Shreyas, it’s again unfortunate. You tell me who he can replace in this squad. It’s not his fault, nor ours—it’s just that only 15 can be picked, and at the moment, he has to wait for his chances,” Agarkar told reporters during the press conference.

Since Agarkar has revealed that there were just 15 positions to be filled in, he also reckoned that Iyer wasn't worth being a part of the reserves, as those positions have been taken by Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Abhishek Nayar, who was earlier the assistant head coach of the Men in Blue, couldn't understand the logic behind Iyer not getting selected in the top 20.

"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,” Nayar was quoted as saying on JioHotstar.