“Who knows what is going on behind closed doors” - AB de Villiers opens up on Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from Asia Cup squad

Former South African cricketer and commentator AB de Villiers has opened up on the Indian middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer not getting his place in the Indian squad for the Asia Cup 2025 campaign, scheduled to take place in the United Arab Emirates.

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Speaking on his YouTube channel, AB asserted his point of view on why a player like Iyer didn’t get a chance in the competitive Indian squad, strolling down the memory lane of his captaincy days when there was a 50-50 call between two players.

“Thinking about when I was captaining, if there is a 50-50 call between two players, I would always lean towards the guy that offers more from a team perspective off the field. When it’s 50-50 on the field, you have to start looking at other areas like ‘Does he add value in the team room, does he have a smile on his face, does he uplift some of the other players around him?’. Or is he sort of dragging energy from the squad?,” AB de Villiers said on his YouTube channel.

“Maybe it’s got something to do with that. I am just taking a complete guess because it is weird that a quality player like him is not making the starting squad for Team India, especially with the leadership qualities he is bringing. Maybe it’ll be too much of a clash with him there and maybe there are too many leaders and too many captains. Maybe the truth will come out one day and we’ll know why Shreyas is struggling to get into Team India,” he added

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Furthermore, AB stated that no one is aware of what’s happening behind closed doors, including Shreyas Iyer, adding that the Indian batter will always be a part of his side. AB concluded his video by stating that Iyer has played some good cricket over the years and displayed a lot of leadership qualities of late.

“Who knows what is going on behind closed doors. Maybe not even Shreyas knows. There might be a few things that have taken place over the years that’s determined why he is not the flavor of the month in this tournament. I am not sure what the reason is because he will be in my team more often than not,” he observed.

“I just read through that squad and I was thinking where Shreyas Iyer can fit in. I’ve seen fans being upset about his exclusion and Shreyas will be the most upset because he’s played some really good cricket over the last few years. He has matured a lot and has shown a lot of leadership qualities,” he concluded.

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