• Source:JND
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India's Test Squad For England Tour: Shreyas Iyer couldn't make it to India's Test squad for the England tour, which was announced on Saturday. The 18-member squad, which was named by the BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar, will be in action in the five-match Test series, which begins on June 20.

Iyer was not even selected for the India A squad, who travel to England for two 4-day matches, followed by an intra-squad against the Indian senior team. Shreyas Iyer has been in his best form at the moment, having shown promise with the bat across formats. He has also been leading the Mumbai team to title wins in domestic cricket.

Dropping his verdict on Iyer’s Test future, Agarkar had bad news for the batter. He said, “Yes, Shreyas Iyer has played well in domestic cricket, but at the moment, there is no room for him in the Test Team.”

Shreyas Iyer is captaining Punjab Kings in the ongoing IPL 2025 and has been in magnificent form with the bat. He has scored 435 runs in 12 matches at an average of 48.33 on the back of four fifties. Shreyas, who won the IPL 2024 title with the Kolkata Knight Riders, helped the Punjab Kings qualify for the playoffs this season after 10 years.

In the Ranji Trophy 2024-25 season, Iyer registered 480 runs at an average of 68.57 in seven innings, and also had an excellent Champions Trophy campaign, which India won. Notably, Iyer had a lean patch in Tests last year, registering 187 runs at an average of 17 in his previous 12 innings.

His last Test appearance came during the home Test series against England in the fourth match at Visakhapatnam in 2024. The 30-year-old has smacked 811 runs in 14 Tests at an average of 36.86, packed with a ton and five half-centuries.

Meanwhile, Agarkar also excluded Sarfaraz Khan from the squad, and Nair was a huge inclusion. Agarkar said, "It's fair on somebody, it's unfair on someone else. At the moment, he (Karun Nair) has scored heaps of runs. He has played a bit of county cricket."

"Sometimes you just have to make good decisions. Sarfaraz, I know he got a 100 in the first Test (against New Zealand) and then didn't get runs. Sometimes these are decisions the team management takes. At the moment, Karun has scored heaps of runs in domestic cricket, has played a bit of Test cricket, played a bit of county cricket. With Virat not there, clearly we're lacking a bit of experience. We felt his experience could help," he added.

While India aim to go through this challenging transition phase as soon as possible, it looks like the BCCI and team management have decided to go ahead with Nair in Kohli’s position in the Test team while ignoring the right-handed batter Iyer.