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Sourav Ganguly fires shots at Agarkar, BCCI for dropping Shreyas Iyer from India squad: 'Not a player to be left out'
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly said Shreyas Iyer should have been in England with the India Test squad simply because of his current form in all formats.
Sourav Ganguly was one of the biggest advocates of Ajit Agarkar when he was the captain of Team India and even the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. Agarkar has dished out memorable performances in Ganguly's captaincy but none more special than his six-wicket haul in the second innings in Adelaide to help India register a famous win against Australia in 2003. So fond was Ganguly of Agarkar that he didn't consider his KKR team to be at full strength till Agarkar was injured in the inaugural edition of IPL in 2008. This was a year after Agarkar played his last international match. Cut to 2025, there is nothing to suggest a crack in the Ganguly-Agarkar relationship but the former India captain surely did not shy away from pointing fingers at the Agarkar-led BCCI selection committee for leaving out Shreyas Iyer from India's Test squad for the England tour.
Iyer, who was a part of India's middle-order the last time they toured England, drifted away from the Test side due to his struggles against the short-pitched deliveries. The right-hander, however, made a strong statement by scoring heavily in ODIs, returning as one of India's top run-scorers in both the World Cup in 20243 and the Champions Trophy in 2025. Iyer maintained his upward surge with a productive domestic season in all formats for Mumbai.
In between, Iyer won the IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 and then led Punjab Kings to their first IPL final in 11 years. The 30-year-old scored 604 runs in 17 matches in the IPL this year. His strike rate of 175 was by far the most by any batter in the top 10 of the Orange Cap list this year.
Agarkar and his selection committee, however, did not pick Iyer for India's Test squad. Reports suggest that there wasn't much discussion about Iyer, as the selectors and the team management thought Iyer had a lot to work on in red-ball cricket.
‘Shreyas Iyer should’ve been in India Test squad': Ganguly
Ganguly said Iyer should have been in England simply because of his current form in all formats. “He has been playing at his best in the last one year, and should have been in this team. Last one year has been fantastic for him. He isn’t the player who got left out. He is now scoring under pressure, taking responsibility, playing the short ball well. Although Test cricket’s different, I would have had him in this series to see what he can do," Ganguly told RevSportz.
The former BCCI president saw Iyer closely when he was the Director of Cricket at the Delhi Capitals. Iyer is currently leading the Mumbai Falcons in the Mumbai League 2025, where the team has already reached the finals.
In Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's absence, the heavy lifting of the middle-order batting will have to be done by new captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Rishabh Pant. There is a possibility that both Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair might get a look in the XI unless India decide to play a seam-bowling all-rounder in Shardul Thakur or Nitish Kumar Reddy.
When asked if he is giving India a chance going into the series, Ganguly said, “Yes, sure. We just need two things, batting well and [Jasprit] Bumrah remaining fit. We won in Australia, in Melbourne (2020-21), with a young batting line-up, having no [Virat] Kohli, no Rohit Sharma. So, I do not see why we cannot win.”
The five-match Test series starts on June 20 at Leeds.
