“I would have had Shreyas Iyer in this series”- Sourav Ganguly feels India selectors erred in selection for England Tests

The BCCI selection committee, helmed by Ajit Agarkar, has come under fire from former India captain Sourav Ganguly for failing to include Shreyas Iyer in the Indian squad for the forthcoming five-Test England tour.

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Iyer struggled to handle the short-pitched deliveries and lost interest in the Test team. Iyer batted in the middle order for India during their most recent tour of England.

But the right-hander made a great impression by hitting a lot of runs in ODIs, and he returned as one of India's top run scorers in the 2025 Champions Trophy and the 2023 World Cup.

After winning the IPL with the Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024, Iyer guided Punjab Kings to their first IPL final in eleven years. The 30-year-old scored 604 runs in 17 IPL games this year. His strike rate of 175 was by far the highest among the batters in the top 10 of this year's Orange Cap ranking.

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Shreyas Iyer should have been in this team: Sourav Ganguly

However, Agarkar and his selection committee did not choose Iyer for the Indian Test team. Iyer was reportedly not talked about much since the selectors and team management felt he needed to work on his red-ball cricket skills.

Iyer should have been in England, according to Ganguly, just based on his current performance across all formats.

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“He has been playing at his best in the last year, and should have been in this team. The 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, and 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.

Ganguly was good friends with Iyer when he was the Director of Cricket for the Delhi Capitals. Under Iyer's direction, the Mumbai Falcons have made it to the final of the 2025 Mumbai T20 League.

India needs to do these two things to win England Test series: Sourav Ganguly

In the absence of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the middle-order batting weight would primarily fall on the shoulders of new captain Shubman Gill and vice-captain Rishabh Pant. Both Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair will probably enter the starting lineup.

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 first India v England Test begins on June 20 in Leeds.

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