Former Indian captain Dilip Vengsarkar has questioned Shreyas Iyer’s decision to take a break from red-ball cricket. Iyer recently wrote to the BCCI to not consider him for selection for the West Indies series. The Mumbai batter said that his body is not ready to field on all five days of the Test match because of back trouble.

Iyer had also withdrawn from the second unofficial Test against Australia A at Lucknow. Meanwhile, Iyer has been named as the vice-captain for the ODIs against Australia but Vengsarkar said he fails to understand how the batter is fit to play white-ball formats but not red-ball cricket.

“To be honest, it’s a dilemma for me, because he [Iyer] says that he is unfit for red-ball cricket, but is fit for the white-ball cricket. I don’t understand the difference between red-ball cricket and the white-ball cricket. I feel that if you are fit for white-ball cricket, you are obviously fit for red-ball cricket too. Choosing red-ball or white-ball and such things are beyond my comprehension,” Vengsarkar said on Mid-Day.

Iyer hasn’t been able to come up with consistent performances in the red-ball format in the recent past. The right-hander was not included in India’s Asia Cup squad despite consistently performing in IPL 2025, where he scored 604 runs at a strike rate of 175.07. 

After the snub, Iyer could not get a big score in the Duleep Trophy match and also could not deliver while leading India A against Australia A in the first unofficial four-day Test in Lucknow.

Iyer returned with scores of 25 and 12 in the Duleep Trophy clash against Central Zone while playing for the West Zone.