The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced the much-anticipated 15-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025 event. Chair of selectors Ajit Agarkar, with the T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, announced a 15 strong players who will fight it with the remaining teams to win the Continental Cup, starting on September 09 to 28. While a lot of expected names made the cut, one name was snubbed - Shreyas Iyer. The Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper showed exceptional form in the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) season and the preceding Champions Trophy 2025 event.
However, despite plundering tons of runs and also displaying leadership qualities, Shreyas has yet again been overlooked for the Asia Cup squad. Any batter who is scoring runs at a strike rate of 170 in the World's best T20 League is a no-brainier pick in any other team. However, in India, this is not enough, as there is talent aplenty, and players fighting for one spot. Agarkar explained in the PC that Iyer was unfortunate to miss the bus for the Continental Cup, despite it not being much of his fault.
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“It’s no fault of his (Shreyas). Got to tell me who he can replace? At the moment, will have to wait for his chance.”
The selector's comment purely reflected the heavy competition in the Indian team, more so when it comes to the shortest format. After the England Test series, this is the second time that Shreyas Iyer has been overlooked in the Indian team.
Who are picked as batters in the Asia Cup squad?
The batters picked in the Asia Cup 2025 squad are Suryakumar Yadav, Shubman Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, & Tilak Varma. Also, the squad boasts of seam bowling all-rounders, Hardik Pandya & Shivam Dube. Among the batters, Tilak and Abishek can also roll the arm over. BCCI have made a conscious decision to select players who offer two-dimensional role, rather than one-dimensional role.
Iyer's omission from the squad might be due to his offering just one skill. Besides, the Mumbai batter, Yashasvi Jaiswal, was also not picked for the Asia Cup squad.
India’s Full Squad For Asia Cup 2025: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson, Harshit Rana
