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Sunil Gavaskar has requested foreign players to avoid commenting on Shreyas Iyer’s Asia Cup omission, criticising Brad Haddin and AB de Villiers.
Shreyas Iyer is not part of India’s Asia Cup squad (Picture Credit: AP)
Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has said that foreign players should not ‘butt their nose into the selection of the Indian team’, after a number of them were heard expressing their astonishment over the absence of star batter Shreyas Iyer from the Asia Cup squad.
The lack of experienced players dominated discussions around India’s 15-member team for the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy in England, but the latest Asia Cup selection has shifted focus to Shreyas Iyer’s omission.
The star Indian batter, who guided the Punjab Kings to the IPL 2025 final and had lifted the trophy with the Kolkata Knight Riders the previous year, last featured in a T20I for India in 2023.
BCCI selection committee chairman Ajit Agarkar bore the brunt of criticism, with multiple former cricketers taking sharp digs at him.
While criticism from Indian stalwarts was anticipated, Gavaskar wasn’t pleased with overseas legends weighing in on the matter.
“What is baffling, though, is that foreigners with no stake in Indian cricket and little knowledge about it wade into the debate, adding fuel to the fire. However great they may be as players and however many times they may have been to India, the selection of the Indian team is strictly none of their business,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“They should focus on their country’s cricket and let us Indians worry about our cricket. Amazingly, when their country’s teams are selected, there’s hardly anything, if ever, heard from them about the selection,” Gavaskar added.
Though the former Indian cricketer refrained from naming anyone, his sharp response was directed at Brad Haddin and AB de Villiers, who had expressed their shock over Iyer’s omission.
While de Villiers’ remarks were measured, he did suggest that some “behind-the-scenes factors” might have influenced Shreyas’ exclusion.
Haddin, in contrast, was far more vocal, expressing his disbelief that his Punjab Kings captain, at a team where he worked as assistant coach earlier this year, had been left out.
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