India middle-order batter and Punjab Kings (PBKS) captain Shreyas Iyer has been out of the shortest-format for India for some time now. His last appearance in a T20I came two years back in December 2023 when Australia toured India.
Since then, he was consistently kept out of the T20I side depsite promising returns in the IPL and domestic cricket too. Echoing on the same lines, PBKS owner Ness Wadia expressed his frustration towards the Indian management for not giving their franchise captain a chance in short-format.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Ness Wadia said on the sidelines of the IPL 2026 auction,
“I just think there’s so much talent out here – it hurts when we lose to New Zealand and South Africa and others, especially at home, with such talent not being played, frankly. Shreyas is a good example. I mean, can someone give me one reason why Shreyas Iyer should not be part of the T20 team?”
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The dynamic right-hander has been in terrific form of late in T20 cricket. Apart from skippering PBKS to a first final in 11 years in IPL 2025, he enjoyed a stellar 600-plus runs season at a blistering strike rate of 175.07. Prior to that in IPL 2024 as well, he led KKR to their third title while averaging an impressive 39.
Apart from that, in domestic cricket, Shreyas also captained Mumbai to victory in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and guided SoBo Mumbai Falcons to the final of the Mumbai T20 League while also stepping up with the bat.
With the T20 World Cup 2026 lined up early next year in February and co-hosted by India, a batter of Shreyas’ mettle would have ideally found a place in the squad. However, the Indian team has a problem of plenty and there is no place to fit Shreyas in currently. Furthermore, with the management preferring all-rounders over specialist batters and bowlers, realistically, there seems no chance for Shreyas to break into the T20I team for the ICC event.
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