Former South African captain AB de Villiers expressed surprise at Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from Team India's 2025 Asia Cup squad. Chief selector Ajit Agarkar admitted the right-hander was unlucky to miss out on selection, while announcing the 15-member squad for the eight-team continental competition on Tuesday, August 19.Iyer was in breathtaking form with the bat in the recent 2025 IPL, scoring 604 runs in 17 games at an average of over 50 and a strike rate of 175.07. Furthermore, he led the Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the final in his first season as captain.The franchise had not qualified for the playoffs since 2015 before their runners-up finish this year.Talking about Iyer's exclusion from the Asia Cup squad on his YouTube channel, De Villiers said (11:00):"Who knows what is going on behind closed doors. Maybe not even Shreyas knows. There might be a few things that have taken place over the years that's determined why he is not the flavor of the month this tournament. I am not sure what the reason is because he will be in my team more often than not."De Villiers added:"I just read through that squad and I was thinking where Shreyas Iyer can fit in. I've seen fans being upset about his exclusion and Shreyas will be the most upset because he's played some really good cricket over the last few years. He has matured a lot and has shown a lot of leadership qualities."Dating back to a year ago, Iyer also captained the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their third IPL title."Is he sort of dragging energy from the squad?" - AB de VilliersAB de Villiers further believes other intangible factors may have played a role in Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from the Indian Asia Cup squad. The 30-year-old is a regular in the ODI side, but his last T20I appearance came in December 2023.Iyer has a moderate T20I record with an average of 30.66 and a strike rate of 136.12 in 51 games."Thinking about when I was captaining, if there is a 50-50 call between two players, I would always lean towards the guy that offers more from a team perspective off the field. When it's 50-50 on the field, you have to start looking at other areas like 'Does he add value in the team room, does he have a smile on his face, does he uplift some of the other players around him?'. Or is he sort of dragging energy from the squad?," said De Villiers (via the aforementioned source).He added:"Maybe it's got something to do with that. I am just taking a complete guess because it is weird that a quality player like him not making the starting squad for Team India, especially with the leadership qualities he is bringing. Maybe it'll be too much of a clash with him there and maybe there are too many leaders and too many captains. Maybe the truth will come out one day and we'll know why Shreyas is struggling to get into Team India."The 2025 Asia Cup begins in the UAE on September 9, with Team India playing their first game against the hosts in Dubai on September 10.