NEW DELHI: Former India opener Aakash Chopra has expressed surprise at Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from the reserve players list for the upcoming Asia Cup, pointing out that it doesn’t send the right message regarding his T20I future.Iyer, who piled up 604 runs at a strike rate of 175 in IPL 2025 while leading Punjab Kings to the runners-up spot, had shown marked improvement against the short ball and dominated spinners throughout the tournament. Yet, he found no place in either the 15-member squad for the Asia Cup or the five-man reserves list.The omission had earlier baffled former India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar, and now Chopra has voiced similar concerns. “Shreyas’ name is not even there in the five reserves, and that is surprising. It’s understandable that you couldn’t have him in the 15 as you can’t play him in the XI, and you wanted lower-order batters as backup, where Shivam Dube is there, and Rinku Singh will be given another chance, which is absolutely par for the course.“However, a place could have been created in the reserve players at least, where you have kept Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Prasidh Krishna. Shreyas’ name could have been there, but you haven’t kept it there either, and that doesn’t send a great signal. The clarity in front of Shreyas’ name is completely not there,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel on Wednesday.At the same time, Chopra believes Iyer’s international future is far from over and that he still has a pathway to the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup if he maintains strong performances in ODIs. For now, Iyer’s immediate focus will be on representing West Zone in the Duleep Trophy, which marks the start of the 2025/26 domestic season.
“Shreyas Iyer not being there is a big story. What more will Shreyas Iyer have to do? What more can you do than what you have already done? You had a 600-plus run IPL season, took the team to the final, scored runs in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, played Ranji, and won the Champions Trophy. That’s all you can do as a human being.“This is the Asia Cup team. Don’t attach the World Cup with it because there are 15 T20Is after this. The world changes in 15 T20Is. If he keeps scoring runs in ODIs, sooner or later, Shreyas Iyer will be part of the team. I have a strong feeling that Shreyas Iyer will be a part of India’s T20 World Cup team,” he added.
