Asia Cup 2025: Former BCCI selector calls Ajit Agarkar’s selection process ‘nonsense’

India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad announcement has stirred up a huge controversy, with chief selector Ajit Agarkar facing severe criticism for not including Shreyas Iyer in the squad. Former India captain and former BCCI selector Srikkanth has criticised Agarkar and questioned the reason behind not including one of the best batsmen in form.

Iyer, who captained Punjab Kings in IPL 2025, was one of the players absent from the 15-member squad led by Suryakumar Yadav. Notably, he was not included in the five-member reserve squad while Dhruv Jurel was preferred as the third wicketkeeper.

“Shreyas Iyer. It is not his fault. He just had to wait for his chance. You have to tell me who you will replace him with? That’s all you can pick 15 players and at the moment, he has to wait for his chance,” Agarkar said in the press conference.

I don’t understand this statement: Srikkanth

“Given the current form, Shreyas Iyer is a natural choice. One thing is clear. You have to look at recent matches; there is no point in judging a player by his form a year ago. He scored 600 runs in the IPL at a strike rate of 175. Strike rate is the most important here. He has been brilliant. Still you have kept him out of the team. For a player who has performed so well, you are saying: ‘Tell me who he will replace in the team’. I don’t understand this statement. This is a nonsense statement by Agarkar. Absolute nonsense. I don’t agree with him,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

India’s squad for Asia Cup 2025

Surya Kumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dubey, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh

Reserves – Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel and Yashasvi Jaiswal