Sanjay Manjrekar Questions Selectors’ Logic Behind Shreyas Iyer’s Asia Cup Snub

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Cric News India

August 23, 2025 0 306

Manjrekar Defends Shreyas Iyer

The former cricketer criticised India’s selection policy after Shreyas Iyer’s omission despite strong IPL form.

Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from India’s squad for the upcoming Asia Cup T20 has created a stir in cricket circles. Despite enjoying one of his best franchise seasons, the 30-year-old failed to make the main squad or even the list of five reserves. Representing Punjab Kings in IPL 2025, Iyer scored 604 runs in 17 matches at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 175.

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar voiced his displeasure on social media, questioning the selectors’ approach of mixing formats. “It’s something I’ve seen over the years, not just 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,” Manjrekar said on Instagram.

Manjrekar admitted he was shocked to see Iyer miss out despite proving his worth. “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 at-home ODI series against England, the way he batted, you could see that he was just batting like he had never batted before,” he said.

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Highlighting Iyer’s turnaround, Manjrekar recalled his comeback in the ODI series against England, where his intent and form stood out. He added, “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 an average over 50, a strike rate over 170, and being the game-changer in the side with the bat. And he gets rewarded with non-selection.”

Pointing to the imbalance in selection, Manjrekar said, “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 gets rewarded with a T20 place, especially at the cost of somebody like Shreyas Iyer.”