Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Monday marvelled at the sheer depth in India’s T20I setup, claiming that the BCCI could field a second-string side and still compete as a world-class outfit. Yet, while naming that hypothetical XI, Ganguly admitted he was left “flabbergasted” by one glaring omission — Shreyas Iyer.
Iyer has been a mainstay in India’s ODI line-up and was one of the top performers in India’s run to the ODI World Cup final in 2023 and the Champions Trophy haul last year in March. However, he has failed to break into the Indian T20I side since his last appearance in the international format in December 2023.
Responding to a query on India’s depth, Ganguly said he still struggles to understand how Iyer fails to break into Suryakumar Yadav’s T20I side.
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“India could have fielded a second T20 World Cup team. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rahul, Pant. Yashasvi doesn’t get a game. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi can walk into any team in the world. Shreyas Iyer doesn’t get a T20 game. I’m absolutely flabbergasted that he doesn’t get a spot in the white-ball team. Then you have Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna. Kuldeep Yadav doesn’t get a game. So, India can field another T20 side and still be an international team,” he told RevSportz.
Iyer’s absence comes despite consistent IPL returns. He led two different franchises to finals in consecutive seasons, including a title-winning campaign with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024. He scored 351 runs that season at a strike rate of 146.86, before elevating his game further in 2025 with Punjab Kings, where he struck at 175.07 and notched up six fifties.
Despite those performances, chief selector Ajit Agarkar had earlier attributed Iyer’s exclusion to intense competition within the squad.
“In terms of Shreyas, it’s again unfortunate. You tell me who he can replace in this squad. It’s not his fault, nor ours—it’s just that only 15 can be picked, and at the moment, he has to wait for his chances,” the former India fast bowler had explained last September when Iyer was not picked for the Asia Cup.
