Unlucky Shreyas Iyer May Still Find Place In Twenty20 World Cup Squad Next Year

So far it has been a one-sided game with the pro-Shreyas Iyer group outnumbering a minuscule going with the senior national selection committee’s call to not pick him for the Asia Cup Twenty20 in Dubai. Iyer has not been part of the Men in Blue Twenty20 team since the first week of December 2023 and the selection committee say that Iyer has to first “settle down’ after being in the bad books of the powers that be after the second Test (Visakhapatnam) of the home series against England in February 2024. He was thrown out of the Central Contract by the BCCI. But the Mumbaikar staged a comeback for the ICC Champions Trophy in the United Arab Emirates and was awarded a Grade B Central Contract. The Iyer-group — Sanjay Manjrekar being the most recent to express surprise at Iyer missing the bus for the Asia Cup — feels that the smart batter who has the wherewithal to force the pace and is strong against spin bowlers should have been an automatic choice in the 15-member squad for the Asia Cup.  But the Selection Committee steered by Ajit Agarkar has stuck their neck out retaining Rinku Singh for his quick-witted approach to batting in any given situation. But this column understands that Iyer is very much in the scheme of things for next year’s Twenty20 World Cup to be played in India and Sri Lanka. The selection committee announced a 15-member squad for Asia Cup in the Gulf region and five standbys. The committee may have shortlisted the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Iyer and Mohammed Siraj for the home World Twenty20 in India next year. Iyer could be even recalled for the white ball series, including the Twenty20 series, in Australia in two months.