Ajit Agarkar And Co. Questioned For Picking Shubman Gill In Asia Cup: "Tendency Of BCCI Selectors To..."
Asia Cup: Shubman Gill, who has not played T20Is recently but was exceptional in the recent England Test series with over 750 runs, was picked as vice-captain
- Shubman Gill was selected as Asia Cup vice-captain despite no recent T20I matches
- Manjrekar blasted "tendency of selectors" to pick a player in one format though he performed in other formats
- "I see a player getting rewarded for Test performances by being placed in the T20 side," he added
Shreyas Iyer has received unprecedented support from the cricket fraternity ever since he was snubbed for the Asia Cup T20. Iyer scored 604 runs in 17 matches at a strike rate of 175 and an average of 50.33 in the IPL 2025 and even captained the Punjab Kings to a runners-up finish. However, he failed to find a place in both India's squad for the Asia Cup and the list of five reserve players. Shubman Gill, who has not played T20Is recently but was exceptional in the recent England Test series with over 750 runs, was picked as vice-captain.
Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar blasted the BCCI selectors for their decision.
"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," Sanjay Manjrekar said on Instagram.
“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."
Manjrekar went on to say that Iyer had not put a foot wrong in recent times, and yet he was not picked, which was surprising.
"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," he 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."
Sources have told NDTV that Iyer is being considered for the Indian ODI captaincy.
India Cricket Team