Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from India’s Asia Cup squad has shocked former Pakistan cricketer Basit Ali. He has criticized the Indian selection committee on leaving ‘A-class players’ from the tournament including Iyer.
Speaking on the Game Time, a YouTube show, Ali lavished praise on young Indian talents, saying had they played for Pakistan, they would be kept in A category.
“Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammed Siraj and Mohammed Shami agar Pakistan mein hote na ye log A category mey hote (These would have been in Pakistan’s A category),” he said.
Shifting his focus on Iyer, Ali felt his exclusion from the team was not justified given his explosive batting performance in the T20Is.
“Iyer ke saad jyadati ho gayi hai. Unko team mey hona chahiye (It was unfortunate that Shreyas Iyer has not been picked),” he added.
The former cricketer also believes that Sri Lanka are the only team that could compete against the fierce Indian squad in the Asia Cup. The tournament is scheduled to begin from September 9.
“They have got a very explosive squad and I think only Sri Lanka can compete with him,” he concluded.
In 51 T20I matches played so far, Iyer has amassed 1104 runs at the strike rate of 136.12. His last appearance was during the Australia T20I series at Bengaluru in 2023 where he scored 61 runs in two innings.
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