Gautam Gambhir faces Manoj Tiwary's fury for Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal Asia Cup snub: 'Two deserving candidates...'
Gautam Gambhir continues to face flak over Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from the Asia Cup squad. Here's what Manoj Tiwary had to say.
The 15-member squad for the Asia Cup was announced earlier this week. However, the Indian team management continues to receive flak for the exclusion of Shreyas Iyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal. The latter is in the five-member reserves list; however, Iyer wasn't that lucky as he did not make the cut. Both Shreyas and Jaiswal had solid campaigns for Punjab Kings and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season; hence, many are not able to make sense of their ouster from the main team.
Former India batter Manoj Tiwary put head coach Gautam Gambhir under the scanner, bringing his old interview into the equation. In it, he had spoken highly about Jaiswal and how he deserves to be in the T20I squad.
It must be mentioned that Gambhir made this remark when he wasn't the head coach of the Indian team. While speaking to the news agency ANI, Tiwary said that the “selection process should be done live” so that cricket fans can see the selectors' thinking.
Shreyas Iyer had led the Punjab Kings to their first IPL final in 14 years in the IPL 2025 season. On the other hand, Jaiswal batted at a strike rate of 160 in the same edition for the Rajasthan Royals.
However, the selectors looked past the duo as they included Shubman Gill in the team as the vice-captain.
{{/usCountry}}However, the selectors looked past the duo as they included Shubman Gill in the team as the vice-captain.
{{/usCountry}}“Two deserving candidates have been left out of the team. One is Shreyas Iyer, and the other is Yashasvi Jaiswal. If you see old videos of the current head coach Gautam Gambhir, he had said that Yashasvi Jaiswal is such a player who at any given moment can walk into India’s T20 team," Manoj Tiwary told ANI.
{{/usCountry}}“Two deserving candidates have been left out of the team. One is Shreyas Iyer, and the other is Yashasvi Jaiswal. If you see old videos of the current head coach Gautam Gambhir, he had said that Yashasvi Jaiswal is such a player who at any given moment can walk into India’s T20 team," Manoj Tiwary told ANI.
{{/usCountry}}“And you cannot think of keeping him out of T20s. Now that he himself is the coach, there is no place for Yashasvi,” he added.
‘Selection process should be made live’
Tiwary stated that Shreyas Iyer is extremely unlucky not to make the main squad despite scoring more than 600 runs in the IPL 2025 season and also leading the side into the final.
Earlier in the 2024-25 season, Shreyas Iyer had also captained Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, overseeing the team's win in the tournament.
“Also, if you see Shreyas Iyer’s performance in last year’s IPL and the domestic circuit. He has been one of the best in the format. The way he averaged in the 50s while making runs, guided Punjab Kings to the IPL final and before that, captained KKR to the title, it’s an eye-opener that he didn’t get a place in the T20 side," said Tiwary.
"This is why I have been saying for years now that the selection process should be made live so that sports lovers know who has been selected and why,” he added.
While announcing the team, Agarkar had stated that Shreyas Iyer and Jaiswal are extremely unlucky, but they will have to wait for their chances in T20Is.
