Former India cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath slammed chief India selector Ajit Agarkar for ignoring Shreyas Iyer from the Indian T20I team for the upcoming Asia Cup set to be played in the UAE. Badrinath said Agarkar calling Iyer’s snub “unlucky” is just a “convenient route”.
Agarkar, while announcing India’s squad for the Asia Cup, said of Iyer, “With regards to Shreyas, not his fault, nor is it ours. It’s just that you can pick 15 and at the moment you’ll have to wait for his chance.”
In this reply, Badrinath said on his YouTube channel, “He definitely deserved to get selected. Ajit Agarkar said he was unlucky but that’s just a convenient route. Iyer has produced excellent numbers over the last two years and done brilliantly as a captain as well. Instead, they picked Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh for the No. 5 position. Last one year, both have done virtually nothing, with poor numbers.”
Having scored 604 runs at a strike rate of 175.07 in IPL 2025 while leading Punjab Kings to the final, Shreyas was expected to make the cut for India’s T20I team. However, the Indian selectors not just excluded Iyer, they did not even name him among the five reserves of the team.
Badrinath advocated that Shreyas, who is an excellent player of spin and a great finisher, can slot in at No. 5 for India. “This is not even a 50-50 decision. Shreyas Iyer should have definitely got a look-in. One can say he has batted at No. 3 for his IPL side. But he can easily play at No. 5 for India being an excellent player of spin and a great finisher,” he said.
Iyer’s leadership much needed
“Especially now, without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, his (Shreyas) experience and leadership is much needed in the team. More than unlucky, this feels like a likeability factor playing a role in selection,” he added.
While Iyer missed out on the Asia Cup squad with Indian selectors showed faith in the likes of Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Rinku Singh and captain Suryakumar Yadav for the middle order role in the final 15-member squad, the five reserve players list also did not have Iyer’s name.
