'What is going on behind closed doors?' - Former South African star on Shreyas Iyer's 'weird' Asia Cup omission

Former South African cricketer AB de Villiers recently shared that he could not wrap his head around Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from the Asia Cup 2025 squad. Iyer's ommission has triggered plenty of discussions amid the cricket fraternity.

De Villiers said that he has no idea why Iyer was not picked, adding that the presence of too many leaders might be one of the reasons. The 41-year-old noted that Iyer's progression and his leadership attributes should have made him an automatic pick in his squad.

"I'm just honestly taking a complete guess. Of course, it's weird to me, a quality player like that, not making the starting squad for Team India, especially with the leadership qualities he's bringing. Maybe, there are too many leaders there. I have no idea, to be honest. If there's a 50-50 call, you would always lean towards the guy that you feel will bring the best out in other players," stated de Villiers during a live chat with fans on X.

"He's matured a lot. He has shown a lot of leadership qualities, but who knows what is going on behind closed doors? No one. Not me. Not you guys. Maybe, not even Shreyas knows. But there might be a few things that have taken place over the years that have determined why he's not the flavour of the month for a certain tournament. He's a quality player. He'll be in my team more often than not," he added.

De Villiers also acknowledged that off-field factors could have also played a part in his exclusion, as selectors consider such factors when making a "50-50 call between two players".

"Sometimes, and I'm not talking about Shreyas now, but sometimes, thinking about when I was captaining, if there's a 50-50 call between two players, I would always lean towards the guy that I feel offers more from a team perspective off the field. When it's 50-50 on the field, you have to start looking at other areas like 'Does he add value in the team room? Does he have a smile on his face? Does he uplift some of the other players around him? Or is he sort of draining energy from the squad?' Maybe, it has something to do with that," de Villiers concluded.

Iyer could not find a place in India's squad (15 as well as five standby players) despite commendable performances in the ODI series against England, Champions Trophy 2025 and the IPL 2025. He last featured in a T20I in December 2023.