BCCI selection committee chief Ajit Agarkar and skipper Suryakumar Yadav announced India's 15-member T20I squad for the Asia Cup 2025 at a press conference in Mumbai last week.

The biggest talking point from the presser was the inclusion of Test skipper Shubman Gill, who recently led India to 2-2 series draw on the tour of England.

Despite the top-order firing through Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Tilak Varma and skipper Suryakumar Yadav himself, Gill was not only added to the squad but also named vice-captain.

Moreover, many fans and experts were left baffled by the exclusion of Shreyas Iyer despite him performing brilliantly both as a batter and captain in the IPL over the last couple of seasons.

Former India cricketer Manoj Tiwary also backed Shreyas as an ideal candidate for the leadership role. Under Iyer’s captaincy, Kolkata Knight Riders won the IPL title in 2024 while Punjab Kings finished as runners-up in the 2025 edition.

"After Rohit Sharma, obviously, I would say Shreyas Iyer, because the way he has led, wherever he has led in franchise cricket, I have not seen him in first-class cricket, but he has also won a trophy for Mumbai in domestic cricket as well," Tiwary said on CricTracker.

"But when I was doing commentary, I observed the evolution of Shreyas Iyer as a captain. He is one of those who lead from the front, he scores a lot of runs, and he makes great decisions on the field, which is a must for a good captain. He has done that successfully, as we saw during his KKR tenure," he added.

Tiwary further claimed that due to the PR, the credit of winning the IPL 2024 went only to their former mentor Gambhir and Iyer was completely overlooked. He also alleged that Gambhir prefers Shubman Gill more than Shreyas Iyer.

"In 2024, KKR emerged as champions under his captaincy, but he didn't get the credit he deserved. The PR machinery worked in such a way that the credit was given to only one individual in the team. I felt he should also have got recognition, along with Chandrakant Pandit and Bharat Arun. They were the supporting staff, while he was the leader making the calls on the field," Tiwary said.

"I feel Shreyas Iyer will eventually lead Team India, and he will lead for a long period of time. But at the same time, he will be fighting this captaincy battle with Shubman Gill because the current coach, Gautam Gambhir, likes Shubman Gill more than Shreyas Iyer. So there will be a fight. But let's see what the future unfolds for all of us," he remarked.