Santosh Iyer is disappointed after his son Shreyas Iyer was not considered for the Asia Cup 2025. The right-handed batter scored over 600 runs for Punjab Kings in the Indian Premier League, but it was not enough to convince the selectors. Santosh said Shreyas is disappointed, but he didn’t blame anyone.

Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal were the notable exclusions from the 15-man team for the continental cup, starting on September 9. While Jaiswal is among the standby players, Iyer was not even given a chance to be among the backup options.

Several former cricketers have questioned the decision, highlighting Iyer’s match-winning ability in white-ball cricket. He took PBSK to their first IPL final in 11 years, a year after winning the trophy with the Kolkata Knight Riders.

“I don’t know what he has to do now to play for the Indian T20 team. He has been performing well in the IPL. He even led KKR to the IPL title in 2024 and took Punjab Kings to the final this year,” Santosh told The Times of India.

Shreyas was expected to make the cut after the magnificent display in IPL 2025. However, the selectors couldn’t find a place for him due to competition in the T20I side.

Santosh opened up on Shreyas’s reaction. “I am not saying that you should give him captaincy but atleast select him. He never shows dissent when he is left out. He is cool and calm. He doesn’t believe in blame game but deep inside he is disappointed,” he added.

Iyer has added a more attacking approach to his game to suit the demands of T20 cricket and recorded a strike rate of 175 in the 18th season of the IPL.

India Squad for Asia Cup T20: Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), JASPRIT BUMRHA SARMA (WAK) Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh

Stand-bys: prasidh krishna, washington sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal