India head coach Gautam Gambhir avoided answering questions on Shreyas Iyer not being included in the squad for their upcoming tour of England. While most inclusions and exclusions in the 18-member squad for the five-match Test series were largely on expected lines, including the announcement of Shubman Gill as the new captain, Iyer’s exclusion despite his stellar form in ODI cricket in particular raised a few eyebrows. “I am not a selector,” was Gambhir’s terse reply when he was about Iyer by a journalist while addressing the media.
Shreyas Iyer’s last Test match was in February 2024 against England in Visakhapatnam. In the time since, Iyer played a crucial role in India’s Champions Trophy victory, finishing as the team’s highest run scorer with 243 runs in five matches. He was also in sensational form in the Ranji Trophy, scoring 480 runs in the seven innings he batted for Mumbai at an average of 68.57 with two centuries.
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Iyer has then continued in similar vein in the 2025 IPL in which eh has thus far accumulated 514 runs in 14 matches at a strike rate of 171.90 and average of 51.40. He has earned plaudits for his captaincy as he led Punjab Kings to the playoffs. Iyer had last season led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title.
Chief selector Ajit Agarkar, while addressing the media to announce the 18-man squad for the tour, acknowledged that Iyer has been in good touch. “Yes, Shreyas Iyer had a good one-day series, has played well in domestic cricket, but at the moment, there is no room for him in the Test team,” he said. Apart from Iyer, Mohammed Shami was the other big name to be missing, with the pacer’s fitness levels still deemed not to be up to the mark for a five-match Test series. Returning after seven years is Karun Nair, as India also bolstered the top-order stocks with the inclusion of Bengal opener Abhimanyu Easwaran.