Ajit Agarkar gives blunt response for not picking Shreyas Iyer in India’s squad for ENG vs IND 2025 Tests

Chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced Team India’s 18-member squad for the upcoming five-match Test tour of England on Saturday, May 24. While several big names were included, Shreyas Iyer, who performed brilliantly in domestic cricket this season, couldn’t find a place in the team.

When asked about the selection committee’s decision to exclude Iyer from the squad, Agarkar had a rather blunt response as he said (via Firstpost):

“Shreyas had a good one-day series, played well in domestic as well but right now there’s no room in Test cricket.”

Notably, Iyer's last Test appearance was during England's tour of India in early 2024, where he played two out of the five Tests, one each in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.

Shreyas Iyer is currently leading the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. The team has made it to the playoffs under the 30-year-old’s captaincy, who notably led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a title win in IPL 2024.

The Mumbai-born will aim to lead PBKS to their maiden IPL championship and also add a second title to his name. If Iyer manages to lift the trophy this season, he will become the first-ever captain to lead two franchises to title wins in the IPL.

India’s squad for England tour

Team India’s 18-member squad for the forthcoming tour of England will see Shubman Gill at the helm, with the 25-year-old replacing Rohit Sharma as India’s full-time Test skipper. Rohit, notably, announced his Test retirement earlier this month.

Keeping Bumrah’s workload in mind, Agarkar said the committee decided to name Rishabh Pant as the vice-captain for this tour. He also mentioned that the pace spearhead will not be available for all five matches of the series.

Along with Sai Sudharsan and Abhimanyu Easwaran's call-ups, Karun Nair returned to the Test setup for the first time since 2019.

With three stalwarts of Indian cricket - Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin - having announced their retirement from Tests, it’ll be interesting to see how Gill leads the new-look team against England.

Team India’s squad:

Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (VC and WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sai Sudharsan, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.