'Not Liked as Much...': Gautam Gambhir, Ajit Agarkar Slammed by Ex-Coach For Ignoring Shreyas Iyer in India's Squad For Asia Cup 2025

Asia Cup 2025: Chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced the India squad for the upcoming Asia Cup on Tuesday and the biggest talking point was the Shreyas Iyer snub. How could Iyer not make the side after a dream IPL season? While that was the question doing the rounds, former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, who has been part of this set-up made a huge claim. As per Nayar, he reckons Gautam Gambhir and Agarkar may not like Iyer much. 

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"I don't know, actually, I wanted to ask that question — aapke reserve players mein kaise nahi hai woh, if he is such a strong contender. Sometimes, you know, selection meetings can be quite interesting, and the discussions that happen in them can be very interesting," Nayar said on Star Sports.

‘Iyer is not liked as much’

"But I can't fathom, and I don't understand, what reason can justify Shreyas Iyer not being part of that 20-member squad. I'm not even talking about the 15, I'm talking about the 20-member squad, which sends a message to Shreyas Iyer that he is not in the team's scheme of things.

"So, the big question here is that maybe they are not looking at him from a T20 point of view — or perhaps any other point of view — or perhaps any other point of view. But I always say this that any selection after a while is, 'who you like a little more than the other'. In that regard, maybe Shreyas Iyer is not liked as much as someone else. Maybe," he concluded.

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Asia Cup 2025

Team India, who are the defending champions, would be one of the hot contenders again. The eight-team tournament starts from September 9 in the UAE. India will play their tournament opener on Septemeber 10.