“Mera naseeb hai” - Shreyas Iyer’s father opens up on his son’s exclusion from Asia Cup 2025 squad

Shreyas Iyer’s father, Santosh Iyer, has expressed his frustration with his son being excluded for the forthcoming Asia Cup 2025 campaign, which is scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates from Tuesday, September 9.

Santosh has stated that his son has led the Kolkata Knight Riders franchise to a title win in the IPL 2024 season, and moreover, he propelled the Punjab Kings franchise to the grand finale after a long time, adding that he doesn’t know what else his son has to do to make it to the Indian T20I team.

"I don't know what else Shreyas has to do to make it to the Indian T20 team. He has been performing so well in the IPL year after year, from Delhi Capitals to Kolkata Knight Riders to Punjab Kings, and that too as a captain. He even captained KKR to the IPL title in 2024 and led PBKS to the final this year," Santosh told The Times of India.

Furthermore, Santosh asserted that he doesn’t want his son to become the captain of the Indian team, but he at least should be a part of the 15-member squad. He also added that his son doesn’t blame anyone if he is left out.

"I am not saying make him the Indian captain, but at least select him in the team. Even if he's left out, he never shows dissent. He'll simply say, 'Mera naseeb hai' (It's my luck; you can't do anything now). He is always cool and calm. He doesn't blame anybody, but deep inside he must be naturally disappointed," he added.

It’s important to note that Iyer ended the IPL 2025 season as the sixth-leading run-scorer, accumulating 604 runs from 17 innings at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 175.07 with six half-centuries. His best score of 97* came against the Gujarat Titans.

India squad for Asia Cup 2025: Surya Kumar Yadav (C), Shubman Gill (VC), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (WK), Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav, Sanju Samson (WK), Harshit Rana, Rinku Singh

Stand-bys: Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

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