Gambhir sidesteps query on Iyer's exclusion for England tour

Head coach Gautam Gambhir on Wednesday sidestepped queries on Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from the Indian squad for England tour but lauded the BCCI for inviting the chiefs of the country's armed forces to attend the IPL final on June 3 in Ahmedabad. Iyer, who is in terrific form, could not find place in India's 18-man squad for the five-match Test series against England, starting June 20 in Leeds. India will be led by young Shubman Gill with Rishabh Pant as his deputy.

"I am not a selector," was Gambhir's terse reply when he was about Iyer, who has led Punjab Kings to the IPL play-offs.

Gautam Gambhir, a former BJP MP, though was effusive in his praise for the Indian cricket board for inviting the three chiefs of armed forces to attend IPL title clash, saying,"It's an unbelievable step".

"We normally criticise the BCCI a lot on a lot of things, but this is something which is unbelievable. BCCI has taken an initiative from the point of view that the entire nation is one and the entire nation has to salute the armed forces for what they do unconditionally," he said.

"So I feel that with the BCCI taking such an initiative we have got to give a lot of credit to the BCCI and more importantly to our armed forces who have been unconditionally helping and saving us and protecting us." General Upendra Dwivedi is the Chief of Army Staff, Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi is the Naval Chief and Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh is the Chief of Air Staff.

BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia had announced that they have extended invitations to all Indian Armed Forces chiefs, top-ranked officers and soldiers for the IPL final to celebrate the success of Operation Sindoor. Operation Sindoor was triggered by the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22 in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were gunned down by Pakistan-backed terrorists in the popular tourist destination in Jammu and Kashmir. (PTI)