Legendary Sunil Gavaskar reckons Shreyas Iyer was not picked in the 18-man Test squad for the five-match series against England after he was not included in the BCCI’s central contract list last year. Gavaskar reckons that omission from the contract list played a key role in Iyer’s absence on the England tour.

Iyer scored 480 runs in five Ranji Trophy 2024-25 matches at an impressive average of 68.57, but chief selector Ajit Agarkar said the Mumbai batter needs to perform more at the domestic level.

Furthermore, Iyer has been in fine form in the ongoing IPL 2025 while leading the Punjab Kings. Iyer has scored 488 runs in 13 matches at an average of 48.80 and a strike rate of 172.43 in the ongoing season.

Sunil Gavaskar said on Sports Tak, “He has done nothing wrong. He has scored heaps of runs in all forms of the game. So it’s a little bit tough on Iyer. Maybe, what happened when he lost his central contract is still rankling and maybe that’s the reason why he can’t break in. But he doesn’t have to give up. With age on his side, he just has to keep on delivering big hundreds and he could be back in the team sooner than later.”

Speaking on Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion, chief selector Ajit Agarkar said on Saturday in the press conference, “Yes, Shreyas Iyer has played well in domestic cricket, but at the moment, there is no room for him in the Test Team.”

The opening Test match between India and England will be played at Leeds, Headingley, from June 20 onwards.

On the other hand, Iyer will lead PBKS in a crucial game against the Mumbai Indians at Jaipur on Monday. The team that would win this contest, will finish among the top two sides in the league phase.