“I can completely understand” - Discarded batter’s massive statement on Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from India’s 2025 Asia Cup squad

Discarded India batter Ajinkya Rahane shared his thoughts on the omission of his Mumbai teammate Shreyas Iyer from the Men in Blue’s 2025 Asia Cup squad. On Tuesday, August 19, India’s T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav and chief selector Ajit Agarkar announced the team for the multi-nation event at a press conference in Mumbai.

Iyer had an outstanding IPL 2025 campaign as captain of Punjab Kings (PBKS), piling up 604 runs from 17 innings at an impressive average of 50.33 and a blistering strike rate of 175.07, which included six fifties. Despite his impressive form, the 30-year-old failed to find a place in the main squad and was also overlooked for the standby list.

Since then, there has been considerable debate around his exclusion. On Thursday, August 21, Rahane addressed the issue in a video shared on his YouTube channel (@ajinkyarahane88), where the 37-year-old said:

“I'm sure he (Shreyas Iyer) must be really disappointed considering the kind of IPL he had. It was a fantastic season. Even in domestic cricket, especially in the 50-over format, he has performed really well whenever given opportunities. I can completely understand the team management’s point of view, since they can only pick 15 players and need to see the balance of the team.”

“The only thing I want to see and I want to know is that a proper communication from selectors and team management with Shreyas. He's an important member of the team and I'm sure in the coming years or in the future he's going to be part of the T20 format as well. So communication is the key from the selectors to Shreyas Iyer,” he added.

Shreyas Iyer has represented India in 51 T20Is, scoring 1,104 runs in 47 innings at an average of 30.66 and a strike rate of 136.12, which includes eight half-centuries.

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“He can double bluff the batter” - Ajinkya Rahane’s massive praise for India pacer

In the same conversation, Ajinkya Rahane expressed his excitement about watching Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh bowl together for India in the 2025 Asia Cup. He said:

“I'm really excited to see Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh bowling together in this Asia Cup. We don't want to talk too much about Jasprit Bumrah. We all know how dangerous he is. Arshdeep Singh, very confident guy, swings the ball both ways. He can bowl the yorker straight and wide yorkers as well. But one important thing about Arshdeep is he can double bluff the batter. To do that as a bowler you need to be really confident, which I feel Arshdeep is really confident about his ability.”

Rahane also recalled an IPL anecdote about facing Arshdeep Singh, highlighting how the left-arm seamer has the ability to double bluff batters. The 37-year-old said:

“I remember an incident. We were playing in Mullanpur against Kings XI Punjab and he was setting up his deep extra cover fielder, and he was slightly in front. And when you know that as a batter, the deep extra cover fielder is in front, generally bowlers are going to bowl slightly fuller and wider.”

“But I knew as a batter probably Arshdeep will double bluff me, and he actually did that. He bowled a bouncer, which I thought was a very good ball. But you need courage as a bowler, you need that courage, you need that confidence to actually execute that ball, and I thought he did that really well. Knowing Arshdeep, I knew that he was going to bowl a bouncer to me, but as I said, it was a good ball, very good ball, but most importantly he had the courage to do it,” he added.

Arshdeep Singh is India’s leading wicket-taker in T20Is, with 99 scalps in 63 matches.