New Delhi, Aug 23: Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar slammed the choice of selectors for leaving out Shreyas Iyer from India's squad for the upcoming Asia Cup, saying that his exclusion from the T20 multi-nation tournament is 'just shocking'.

Manjrekar was quite anguished with Iyer's snub for the continental tournament for which the squad was announced by chief selector Ajit Agarkar, in the presence of T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav, at the BCCI headquarters on Tuesday.

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

“Shreyas Iyer not making this T20 squad of India for the Asia Cup is just shocking. Because this is a guy who was left out of the Indian game for the right reason, because they felt he wasn't committing himself as a master of domestic cricket. But it had the desired effect on Shreyas Iyer. When he came back against England at home in a one-day series, and the way he batted, you could see that he was just batting like he's never batted before. Didn't put a foot wrong in that comeback series. And then carried that form into IPL cricket,” he added.

Despite not featuring in the T20I format for India since December 2023, Iyer was in sublime form during the Champions Trophy title-winning campaign in Dubai and the IPL 2025, where he guided Punjab Kings to a runners-up finish.

Iyer finished the IPL 2025 season with 604 runs, including six half-centuries, scoring at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 175.07. He also finished the Champions Trophy campaign as the second-highest run-getter with 243 runs in five innings.

“I don't think any batter has had that kind of form right through the IPL season. What with an average of over 50, a strike rate of over 170, plus being the game-changer in the side with the bat. And he gets rewarded with non-selection. So when you do that to a player who's put in one of the best performances ever in the last few months in a format for which the Indian team is getting selected, and you leave it out of the format. Perhaps for a guy who has excelled in a completely different format, Test cricket. Pick a guy who's done well in Test cricket,” Manjrekar elaborated while expressing dissatisfaction over Shubman Gill's return to the side.

“And not just because somebody has done so well in test cricket, gets rewarded with a T20 place, especially at the cost of somebody like Shreyas Iyer. I think the selection these days of the squad and the playing 11 in Indian cricket hasn't been great. It's just amazing, despite the fact that India played so well in England, and there is a great possibility they might do so again in this Asia Cup. But what is wrong is wrong. And I think Iyer has been seriously wronged by the selectors,” he added.

(IANS)

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