India’s Asia Cup 2025 team announcement has sparked a great deal of controversy, as chief selector Ajit Agarkar has come under fire for leaving out Shreyas Iyer. Kris Srikkanth, the former captain of India and a former BCCI selector, has criticised Ajit Agarkar, raising doubts about the reasoning behind benching one of the nation’s best batsmen.
Among the significant absences from Suryakumar Yadav’s 15-man roster was Iyer, who captained Punjab Kings in the 2025 Indian Premier League. Interestingly, he was left out of the five-man reserves, as third wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel was preferred. “The challenge was fitting Iyer into the side without dropping someone else,” Ajit Agarkar said in defence of the call.
Iyer Shreyas. Not his fault. All he has done is wait for his opportunity. You must let me know who you plan to replace him with. At the press conference, he stated, “You can pick 15, and right now, he’ll have to wait for his chance.”
Srikkanth, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the choice and questioned Ajit Agarkar assertion about Iyer, saying that he should have been selected for the squad automatically.
“Shreyas Iyer is a no-brainer on his present form. Let’s be clear about that. It’s useless to evaluate a player based on their performance from a year ago; instead, look at their recent games. In the IPL, he amassed 600 runs at a strike rate of 175 runs. The most crucial element in this situation is strike rate. He’s been outstanding. But you haven’t mentioned him. Now you have him perplexed. You’re asking a player who has done so well to “tell me who he will replace in the side.” This statement is incomprehensible to me. Ajit Agarkar statement is ridiculous. Completely illogical. On his YouTube show, the former stated, “I disagree with him.”
What was wrong with him? Srikkanth
In IPL 2025, the Mumbai batsman amassed 604 runs at a strike rate of 175 runs. Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, and Rinku Singh were among the chosen players who had respectable IPL stats. Samson only scored 285 runs at a 140 strike rate. While Shubman Gill returned as vice-captain despite inconsistent T20I performances, the former also questioned why Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had a stellar IPL and steady international form, was left out.
“Shreyas Iyer cannot be accommodated, but Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh, and Sanju Samson can. What does this statement mean? The reasoning behind this is beyond my comprehension. There is absolutely no logic. You see, Yashasvi Jaiswal is playing in the IPL and international cricket. What had he done wrong? How are you able to ignore him? He went on.
India’s 2025 Asia Cup team
Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh, Surya Kumar Yadav (C), and Shubman Gill (VC)
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Washington Sundar, and Prasidh Krishna are the reserves.
India
