Shreyas Iyer‘s exclusion from India’s squad for IND vs ENG T20Is comes as a huge surprise, given his form in domestic cricket recently. The Mumbai batter has delivered consistent performances, especially in the white-ball formats in Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. While it is pretty obvious that he is a sure-shot inclusion in the squad for ODIs vs England and Champions Trophy 2025, it would have made more sense to let him play the T20Is as warm-up before he heads into the 50-over format.
Why Shreyas Iyer should have played IND vs ENG T20Is
Iyer is expected to take field in India’s colours after 5 months, having played his last ODI in August 2023 against Sri Lanka. He is arguably India’s best choice batter for number four in 50-over format, with 1397 runs at an average of 51.74 at that position. While he has taken part in all domestic tournaments leading to the IND vs ENG ODI series and ICC Champions Trophy, he lacks the international experience in recent times, something that is much needed before playing a marquee tournament. The best option could have been IND vs ENG T20I series, but the selectors chose to neglect him and instead prefer other stars who did not as well as Iyer did.
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In Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, Shreyas finished as the 4th highest run-getter, with 345 runs to his name from 9 matches, averaging 49.28. His performance included one century and half-century each. With a strike rate of 188.52, he was arguably Mumbai’s second best batter in the tournament after veteran Ajinkya Rahane. Surely he deserved a spot in the side for the T20I series against England, solely based on this performance.
In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he had a mind-boggling average of 325, having remained not-out in the entire tourney. With 325 runs from five matches, he boasted of two centuries to his name in the 50-over format.
While consistent performances in domestic cricket is a plus for the batter and Team India, Iyer would have made good use of the T20I series as preparatory ground for the ODI series and CT 2025 that are to follow. Instead, the selectors decided to rope in Rinku Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Reddy apart from deserving candidates like Tilak Verma, Hardik Pandya among others.
