Spot available for Shubman Gill, but not for Shreyas Iyer? Sanjay Manjrekar lambasts BCCI's call

Does an impressive performance in red-ball cricket ensure a player a T20I spot? That's Sanjay Manjrekar's query to the chief selector, Ajit Agarkar. The former Indian cricketer did not mince his words as he reflected on the board's decision to ignore Shreyas Iyer. Shubman Gill, who has not played a T20I match for almost a year, will go to the UAE as the vice-captain of the India squad for the Asia Cup 2025. Shreyas Iyer, meanwhile, will sit out despite piling up runs in the recently concluded IPL. While the BCCI is drawing significant ire for sidelining Iyer from the format, Manjrekar has gone ahead and compared Gill's selection to Iyer's snub.

Sanjay Manjrekar grills Ajit Agarkar over ignoring Shreyas Iyer for Asia Cup 2025

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has come out strongly in support of Shreyas Iyer, who was excluded from India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad despite a stellar run in white-ball cricket. The 30-year-old Mumbai batter has been in prime form, first impressing in the ICC Champions Trophy and later taking IPL 2025 by storm. Leading Punjab Kings to their maiden final in 11 years, Iyer piled up over 600 runs at a strike rate exceeding 170, underlining his value in the shortest format.

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar defended the decision to exclude Iyer from the India squad for Asia Cup, saying he was “unlucky”. The former Indian player insisted that the committee had little choice given the abundance of talent available. Manjrekar, however, was unconvinced by this reasoning. He openly questioned the logic behind the selection of Shubman Gill, pointing to the opener’s success in the India vs England Test series. Manjrekar termed the new Indian Test captain's 754 runs against England in the Test series as an irrelevant benchmark for a spot in the T20I squad.

“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.

“Shreyas 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.

According to Manjrekar, rewarding Test match returns while picking a T20 side undermines specialists like Iyer, who have delivered consistently in the format. Agarkar highlighted that Gill had previously been named T20I vice-captain during India’s tour of Sri Lanka in July 2024 and that the management was merely continuing with that leadership structure now that he was fit again. However, Manjrekar maintained that the decision was unfair.

For him, Gill’s recall cannot be justified at the cost of leaving out Iyer, with the former India batter going as far as to say the selectors have “seriously wronged” the Punjab Kings star. Notably, Gill hasn’t featured in a T20I since the Sri Lanka series, largely because the selectors had been preserving him for Tests and ODIs.

“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,” said Manjrekar.

“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.