He doesn't blame anybody, but deep inside, he must be naturally disappointed: Shreyas Iyer's father
"I don’t know what else Shreyas has to do to make it to the Indian T20 team," he said.
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The most heated debate after India's squad for the Asia Cup 2025 was announced on Tuesday, has been the exclusion of star batter Shreyas Iyer despite a brilliant run of form across all formats of the game. Now, his father, Santosh Iyer, has also expressed disappointment over the non-selection, despite performing exceptionally in the IPL over the years.
His father further said that Iyer has been a brilliant leader in the IPL from Delhi Capitals to Kolkata Knight Riders to Punjab Kings, but he gets overlooked by the Indian team management when it comes to picking the international T20 squad. Santosh Iyer further admitted that his son's nature is always to stay calm, but such ignorance from the BCCI must be heavy on his heart.
“I don’t know what else Shreyas has to do to make it to the Indian T20 team. He has been performing so well in the IPL year after year, from Delhi Capitals to Kolkata Knight Riders to Punjab Kings, and that too as a captain. He even captained KKR to the IPL title in 2024, and led PBKS to the final this year. I’m not saying make him the Indian captain but at least select him in the team — even if he's left out of the team, he doesn't show dissent on his face. He'll just say 'Mera naseeb hai' (It's my luck) You can't do anything now' — He's always cool & calm. He doesn't blame anybody, but deep inside, he must be naturally disappointed,” Santosh told TOI.
Like his father said, Iyer has been in exceptional form of late. After shifting his base to Punjab Kings for IPL 2025, the batter smashed 604 runs across 17 innings at an exceptional average of 50.33, while also hitting at a high strike-rate. He also took the side to the finals, which they unfortunately lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru, but the world was in awe of his performances with a franchise, which had not qualified for the playoffs in a decade.
Iyer to play in Duleep next
The Mumbai-born will now be focusing on the Duleep Trophy 2025, where he will be batting for West Zone. For the unversed, he was reportedly offered a captaincy role at West Zone, but declined, and it later went to all-rounder Shardul Thakur. West Zone have a direct entry into the semi-finals for ending as runners-up in the 2023-24 edition of the zonal tournament.