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Subramaniam Badrinath alleges Ajit Agarkar’s selection committee snubbed Shreyas Iyer for the 2025 Asia Cup due to a ‘likeability factor’.
Shreyas Iyer is not part of India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad. (Picture Credit: PTI)
Former Indian cricketer Subramaniam Badrinath has alleged that there was a ‘likeability factor’ in the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee’s decision to exclude Shreyas Iyer from the 2025 Asia Cup squad. Badrinath said Agarkar’s calling Shreyas ‘unlucky’ was taking a ‘convenient route’ to explain the big change.
Shreyas took Punjab Kings to the final of IPL 2025 earlier this year, while also scoring 604 runs with a 175-plus strike rate. However, Agarkar said, they couldn’t find anyone in the first 15 to make way for the Mumbaikar, and it was neither the selector’s fault nor the batter’s.
“He definitely deserved to get selected. Ajit Agarkar said he was unlucky but that’s just a convenient route. Iyer has produced excellent numbers over the last two years and done brilliantly as a captain as well. Instead, they picked Shivam Dube and Rinku Singh for the No. 5 position. In the last one year, both have done virtually nothing, with poor numbers,” Badrinath said in a video on his YouTube channel.
“This is not even a 50-50 decision. Shreyas Iyer should have definitely got a look-in. One can say he has batted at No. 3 for his IPL side. But he can easily play at No. 5 for India being an excellent player of spin and a great finisher,” he said. “Especially now, without Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, his (Shreyas) experience and leadership is much needed in the team. More than unlucky, this feels like a likeability factor playing a role in selection,” he added.
Badrinath is not the first to suggest some ulterior motive behind Shreyas’s snub. Former India assistant coach and part of the backroom staff when Shreyas led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL 2024 title, Abhishek Nayar, also said that it seemed to him that the batter wasn’t as liked as others in the squad.
Neither has indicated who the favored one is that took Shreyas’ place. The only other major change in the team from the last time it played was Shubman Gill coming in as a third opener (instead of Yashasvi Jaiswal) and being appointed the vice-captain.
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