After the Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2025 was announced, there has been a lot of debate regarding the selection of players for the upcoming tournament. Two star players, Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswaldidn’t
get a place in the 15-men line-up for the Asia Cup, with Jaiswall included in the reserve players list. Jaiswal has been a consistent performer for India in the T20Is and played his last T20I game for India back in July 2024.
On the other hand, Iyer has also been a star performer for India in big multinational tournaments in the last few years and also had a great outing in IPL 2025 amassing 604 runs in 17 matches. Reacting to this, former Indian cricketer Manoj Tiwary slammed Gautam Gambhir for the selection stating that he couldn’t even justify his statement he made a couple of years ago.
“Two deserving candidates have been left out of the team. One is Shreyas Iyer and the other is Yashasvi Jaiswal. If you see old videos of the current head coach Gautam Gambhir, he had said that Yashasvi Jaiswal is such a player who at any given moment can walk into India’s T20 team. And you cannot think of keeping him out of T20s. Now that he himself is the coach, there is no place for Yashasvi,” Tiwary told ANI.
Selection meeting should be live that fans know who has been selected and why: Manoj Tiwary
Speaking further, Manoj Tiwary also acknowledged Shreyas Iyer stating that he has been great in domestic cricket and the IPL last year. He also suggested that the BCCI should make the selection meeting live so that the fans can get to know why a particular players has been select or snubbed.
“Also, if you see Shreyas Iyer’s performance in last year’s IPL and the domestic circuit. He has been one of the bests in the format. The way he averaged in 50s while making runs, guided Punjab Kings to the IPL final and before that, captained KKR to the title, it’s an eye-opener that he didn’t get a place in the T20 side. This is why I have been saying for years now that the selection process should be made live so that sports lovers know who has been selected and why,” Manoj Tiwary said.
