Former Australia wicketkeeper-batter Brad Haddin, who is currently the Assistant coach of Punjab Kings, has expressed surprise over Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from India's Asia Cup squad. Iyer, who last featured in T20Is in the year 2023, failed to make his way even in the squad reserves.

Interestingly, Haddin felt that Shreyas might even be given captaincy, considering his stunning exploits with the bat and a captain in IPL 2025.

"Well, one, leadership qualities. Two, the style of player he is under pressure. He's someone who everyone plays better when he's in the team. I have no idea. I first thought when I was reading it that he was injured, but he's not. So it's a strange decision for me because he brings so much to the game. I actually thought he was going to be captain," said Haddin in a video posted on Willow Talk's social media accounts on Friday.

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Shreyas Iyer Stats

Iyer, 30, had scored 604 runs in 17 matches at a strike rate of 175 and an average of 50.33 in IPL 2025. He even captained Punjab Kings to a runners-up finish in the competition, just after captaining his previous franchise, Kolkata Knight Riders, to the IPL 2024 trophy.

He will be next seen in action when he turns out for West Zone in the 2025/26 domestic season-opening Duleep Trophy, starting on August 28 at the BCCI CoE grounds in Bengaluru.

West Zone, led by India's seam-bowling all-rounder Shardul Thakur, will play their first match of the Duleep Trophy in the semi-final scheduled for September 4, with their opponents to be the winner of the quarter-final clash between Central Zone and North East Zone.

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Asia Cup Squad:

Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Shubman Gill (vc), Sanju Samson, Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Jasprit Bumrah.

Standby Players: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Inputs from IANS