3 unlucky players who missed out on India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad

India’s Asia Cup 2025 squad was announced in Mumbai at the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)Headquarters on Tuesday, August 19. The captain, Suryakumar Yadav, and head of the All India Men’s Senior Selection Committee’s chairperson Ajit Agarkar addressed a press conference during which the latter announced the 15-member team.

The interaction with the media also involved Suryakumar and Agarkar having to tackle a few questions regarding the inclusion of certain players in the squad, like Jitesh Sharma – who has been picked as the first-choice wicketkeeper-batter over Sanju Samson. There were a total of five standby players announced in addition to the final squad, including the likes of all-rounders Riyan Parag and Washington Sundar.

3 unlucky players who missed out on India’s squad

3. Yashasvi Jaiswal

Ahead of the squad announcement, there were several reports suggesting the inclusion of Yashasvi Jaiswal in the squad. With a strike rate of 164.31 in 23 T20 internationals, loads of former cricketers and the cricket community in general had felt that Jaiswal would probably slot in as one of the lead openers or the backup opener at the very minimum.

However, he was ultimately found as one of the five standby players. Jaiswal has been a consistent performer for Rajasthan Royals too. He has struck at a strike rate northwards of 150 in the past three IPL seasons (163.61 in 2023, 155.91 in 2024 and 159.71 in 2025). Due to all these reasons, the left-handed batter could be considered unfortunate to have missed out.

2. Shreyas Iyer

Unlike Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer did not even find a place in the standby players’ list. He was instrumental in leading Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the final of IPL 2025. Iyer led from the front with the bat as well. He possessed a strike rate of 175.07 while scoring 604 runs in the 17 games that he played. He had also played a key role in India’s Champions Trophy win earlier this year.

Iyer’s contributions weren’t only confined to just the IPL and the international setup. In fact, he was part of Mumbai’s 2023-24 Ranji Trophy edition, captained Mumbai to victory in the 2024 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy and led SoBo Mumbai Falcons to the final of the Mumbai T20 League. Agarkar responded that Iyer ‘will have to wait for his chance’ for the time being, which sounds a little unlucky, but Iyer will have to digest the fact and focus on the controllable factors.

1. Mohammed Siraj

Mohammed Siraj last played a T20I in July 2024 against Sri Lanka in the bilateral series in the island nation a short while after he was with the triumphant squad for T20 World Cup. He played his most-recent ODI during the same tour. He has been an active part of India’s Test unit since the conclusion of the Sri Lankan tour, playing 14 red-ball games since.

Siraj performed fantastically well during the recently-concluded five-match series against England. He bowled his heart out to end up as the series’ leading wicket-taker with 23 wickets in nine innings. Many felt that he deserved a chance to make his comeback in the shortest format after a special England series. However, he was not included in the team which comprises Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Prasidh Krishna (standby player) as the pacers.