Former England spinner Monty Panesar reckons Shreyas Iyer’s excellent track record as an IPL captain might have worked against him ahead of the Asia Cup. Iyer was surprisingly not picked for the continental tournament despite having a great run in IPL 2025 while leading the Punjab Kings.
Iyer scored 604 runs in 17 matches at an average of 50.33 and a blistering strike rate of 175.07. Ergo, he played an instrumental role in taking PBKS to the final of the tournament.
Furthermore, Iyer had scored 243 runs in five matches of the Champions Trophy 2025 and had played a key role in taking the team to glory.
Monty Panesar said on India Today, “One of the reasons Shreyas Iyer is probably struggling to get into the Indian squad is because he brings those leadership skills and, at the moment, possibly they’ve got that covered. It gives them an opportunity to bring in someone younger, a bit more exciting to play, who would be easier to manage for coach Gautam Gambhir. So I think he being the captain in IPL, makes it a bit difficult for him to get into that team.”
“But I do believe, if he keeps scoring runs, he should be playing. But it’s just the talent, the talent is unbelievable. I think India has never been so blessed and lucky that they can pull out probably 2 to 3 teams right now and compete against the world.”
On the other hand, the former left-arm orthodox spinner showered praise on Jasprit Bumrah. Panesar said T20 cricket is Bumrah’s strongest format.
“He (Bumrah) has an unorthodox action, so I think the difficulty for him is if he’s playing back-to-back test matches, it’ll probably take a lot of strain on his body than someone who has a traditional bowling action. So, he probably needs that break, but also, I think T20 is his strongest format. So I think India probably needs him fit and ready for the World Cup, for the Asia Cup. So I think he’s more of a valuable asset in the T20 format than the other formats,” said Panesar (via the aforementioned source).
Bumrah will be seen in action in the upcoming Asia Cup.
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