The Indian team is now prepared for the long-awaited transition period, which will begin with the start of the England tour in late June, following the retirement of Ravichandran Ashwin, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma from Test cricket following the tour of Australia. Rishabh Pant was selected as Shubman Gill's deputy, and the team was chosen by the selectors last week. Karun Nair made his comeback to the squad as well after nine years.

Shreyas Iyer, who was rumored to be a possible pick after Kohli's abrupt resignation, was one of the most notable omissions from the Test team. In addition, his selection was supported by a respectable Ranji Trophy, where he averaged 68.57 and scored 480 runs in five games the previous season, including two centuries. Iyer's ability to overcome his weakness against the short ball, which was evident throughout the Champions Trophy earlier this year when he led India in scoring and came second in the tournament, was the most notable aspect of that performance. After that, he had a fantastic performance in the current IPL 2025, where he guided the Punjab Kings to the league stage's top spot; at this point, they are only two victories away from winning their first championship. Nonetheless, Iyer didn't make it into the Test squad.

When asked about Iyer's exclusion while speaking outside of an event, the head coach of India seemed completely uninterested in the issue. He answered tersely, "I am not a selector," and immediately concentrated on a topic concerning the BCCI's invitation to the heads of the nation's armed forces to the IPL final on June 3 in Ahmedabad.

What did Ajit Agarkar have to say about Iyer's exclusion?

Prior to this, the head of the BCCI selection committee had responded to the question of why Iyer hadn't been included in the Indian Test squad for the trip to England. "Shreyas had a nice one-day series, played well in domestic as well, but right now there is no room in Test cricket," he had told the media last week after the team was revealed in Mumbai.

The Mumbai batter last played Test cricket in January 2024, prior to being left out of the team in the middle of the home series against England. However, there were few signs that his release from the team was caused by an injury issue. Despite a mandate from the BCCI requiring domestic participation, there was then a debacle about his unavailability for Mumbai's then-ongoing Ranji season. The board had already taken action against him and removed him from the core contract, even though he made himself available for the last two games.

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