Former India captain Sourav Ganguly has slammed the Ajit Agarkar-led BCCI selection committee for leaving out Shreyas Iyer from the India squad for the upcoming five-Test England tour.
Iyer, who played in the middle order for India on their most recent tour of England, lost interest in the Test team because he found it difficult to handle the short-pitched deliveries. However, by scoring a lot of runs in ODIs, the right-hander created a big impression and returned as one of India's leading run scorers in the 2025 Champions Trophy and the 20243 World Cup.
With a successful domestic season for Mumbai across all formats, Iyer continued his upward trajectory.
Iyer led Punjab Kings to their first IPL final in eleven years after winning the IPL with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024. This year, the 30-year-old scored 604 runs in 17 IPL games. Of the batters in the top 10 of this year's Orange Cap list, his strike rate of 175 was by far the highest.
However, Iyer was not selected for India's Test team by Agarkar and his selection committee. According to reports, Iyer was not discussed much since the team management and selectors believed he needed to improve his red-ball cricket skills.
Ganguly said Iyer should have been in England simply because of his current form in all formats.
“He has been playing at his best in the last one year, and should have been in this team. The last year has been fantastic for him. He isn’t the player who got left out. He is now scoring under pressure, taking responsibility, and playing the short ball well. Although Test cricket’s different, I would have had him in this series to see what he can do," Ganguly told RevSportz.
When Ganguly was the Director of Cricket for the Delhi Capitals, he had a close relationship with Iyer. The Mumbai Falcons, under Iyer's leadership, have advanced to the finals of the Mumbai League 2025.
New captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Rishabh Pant will have to shoulder the majority of the middle-order batting load in the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. Karun Nair and Sai Sudharsan may both be included in the starting lineup.
When asked if he is giving India a chance going into the series, Ganguly said, “Yes, sure. We just need two things, batting well and [Jasprit] Bumrah remaining fit. We won in Australia, in Melbourne (2020-21), with a young batting line-up, having no [Virat] Kohli, no Rohit Sharma. So, I do not see why we cannot win.”
The first India v England Test begins on June 20 in Leeds.
