Ab De Villers Claims 'Closed Door' Talks Led To Shreyas Iyer Snub From Asia Cup Squad

Ab De Villers Claims 'Closed Door' Talks Led To Shreyas Iyer Snub From Asia Cup Squad Photo : AP

India are all set to appear next in the Asia Cup 2025, with the first match on September 10 against UAE. They have announced their 15-man squad for the tournament. While the squad looks exteemely strong, there has been criticism regarding certain players whou could not make it to the squad. The exclusion of Shreyas Iyer, who does not even feature among the five standby players, has raised many questiions, and now former South Africa batter AB de Villiers has also spoken out regarding Iyer's non-selection.

In a video posted on his YouTube channel, AB de Villiers said that Shreyas Iyer would be disappointed for not making it to the Asia Cup 2025 squad, especially since he has played some good cricket in the last few years. He also showed a lot of leadership qualities. However, de Villiers claimed that no one knows what goes behind closed doors.

“It is tough, guys. I was just going through the squad. I was thinking, where can we fit Shreyas in, because I've seen all the headlines and some fans being upset. I think Shreyas will be the most upset because he's played some really good cricket over the last few years. He's matured a lot. He showed a lot of leadership qualities, but who knows what is going on behind closed doors? No one. Not me. Not you guys," de Villiers said.

'Not Even Shreyas Knows'

AB de Villiers further noted that even Shreyas Iyer did not know why he was not selected in the Asia Cup 2025 squad.

“Maybe not even Shreyas knows. But there might be a few things that have taken place over the years that have determined why it's not the flavour of the month for a certain tournament. He's a quality player. He'll be in my team more often than not. But sometimes, and I'm not talking about Shreyas now, but sometimes thinking about when I was captaining, if there's a 50-50 call between two players, I would always lean towards the guy that I feel offers more from a team perspective off the field,” he added.

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