Shubman Gill picked over Shreyas Iyer for Asia Cup: BCCI’s selection process questioned by Manjrekar

Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion has been the biggest talking point since India’s Asia Cup squad was announced. Many can’t fathom how the 30-year-old was left out despite having the best strike rate among the top ten run-getters of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season.

BCCI’s selection process questioned

Shreyas has transformed his game across formats in the last couple of years. He no longer has a short-ball weakness. Can’t be labelled as just a spin hitter anymore, either. One can still understand why he wasn’t picked for Test cricket, but non-selection in T20Is doesn’t really make any sense.

On this point, former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar has criticised the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) selection process.

“It’s something I’ve seen over the years, not recently: this tendency of selectors to pick a player based on performances in one format, where that person excelled, and then picking him for another format. When I see a player getting rewarded for his Test match performances by being placed in the T20 side, I just find that devoid of cricketing logic. It just doesn’t make any sense,” said Manjrekar on his Instagram account.

Shreyas Iyer’s exclusive baffling

In the last 12 months, Shreyas has done whatever the BCCI asked. He regularly played domestic cricket and performed across all formats. When granted the opportunity, he finished as India’s best batter in the Champions Trophy, overshadowing the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Shubman Gill.

“Shreyas Iyer not making this T20 squad of India for the Asia Cup is just shocking. This is a guy who was left out of the Indian team for the right reason because they felt he wasn’t committing himself as much to domestic cricket. But it had the desired effect on Shreyas Iyer: when he came back again in the England at-home ODI series, the way he batted, you could see that he was just batting like he had never batted before.”

“He didn’t put a foot wrong in that comeback series and then carried that form into IPL cricket. I don’t think any batter has had that kind of form throughout the IPL season, with the average over 50, strike rate over 170, and being the game-changer in the side with the bat. And he gets rewarded with non-selection,” Manjrekar added.

Picked Gill because of Test exploits?

When the time came to give someone a comeback call, it was Gill over Shreyas. Manjrekar argues that the former’s performances in England as India’s Test captain were what brought him back to T20Is. His point of view is, how can Shreyas not even be included in the reserves for the Asia Cup while Gill not only returns but is also named India’s vice-captain?

“So, when you do that to a player who has put in one of the best performances ever in the last few months in a format for which the Indian team is being selected, and you leave him out of that format, that’s for a guy who has excelled in a completely different format: Test cricket. Pick a guy who’s done well in T20 cricket, and not just because somebody has done so well in Test cricket and gets rewarded with a T20 place, especially at the cost of somebody like Shreyas Iyer,” Manjrekar concluded.

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