The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday threw a lot of surprises while announcing India's squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025. India's Test captain, Shubman Gill, who last played a T20 match for India against Sri Lanka in July last year, was named India's vice-captain for the tournament. He was preferred over Yashasvi Jaiswal. Jaiswal was expected to secure a place in India's 15-player squad following a series of noteworthy performances, but he failed to make the cut.
Meanwhile, the most notable omission was that of Shreyas Iyer, who has had a lot of success in the white-ball format over the past few months. Reacting to Jaiswal's exclusion and some of the shocking calls, former Indian cricketer R Ashwin didn't hold back in expressing his anger.
"What Shreyas has done wrong. He did brilliantly well for KKR, made them win. He was sent into the auction. He then took Punjab to the finals for the first time since 2014. He overcame the short ball problem. He was hitting the likes of Kagiso Rabada and Jasprit Bumrah with ease in the IPL. Look at the credentials of Shreyas. He went out of the team. But came in the Champions Trophy and did amazing batting. He won and gave it to you. I am just extremely sad for him and Yashasvi Jaiswal; it is extremely unfair,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
"When you have Jaiswal as your third opener, you have brought Shubman Gill in the team by removing a person from the World Cup winning squad. I mean, I am happy for Shubman but I am very, very sad for both Shreyas and Jaiswal. It’s just not fair on both,” he said.
The Indian squad also includes Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav, who have made their return to the shortest format for the first time since the T20I World Cup last year. The men in blue will kick off their Asia Cup campaign by facing hosts UAE on September 10 at the Dubai International Stadium.