Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has stated that Shreyas Iyer deserves to be a part of the Indian team’s 2025 Asia Cup squad. He also shared that Iyer was India’s best batter in the middle overs in 2025
Champions Trophy, and was hitting boundaries at will.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, ‘Aakash Chopra,’ he said, “Shreyas Iyer needs to be spoken about because when we were watching the Champions Trophy, no Indian player was better than him in the middle overs. He was the guy who was taking the attack to the opposition. He was the guy who was hitting boundaries whenever he wished, and removing the pressure on the batter at the other end.”

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“After that came the IPL. There were plenty of pressures. This was Shreyas Iyer’s best-ever IPL season. We have repeatedly seen that T20 selections are based on IPL performances. We have seen that with Varun Chakaravarthy, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, and everyone. If we see it from that token, Shreyas Iyer deserves to play,” he shared again.

However, Aakash Chopra added that Tilak Varma has been performing well, especially at No. 3, for India in T20Is recently as well.

“We have built a case that Shreyas’ name should be there, but the truth is that Tilak Varma is playing either at No. 3 or No. 4. Since he has started playing at No. 3, he has been unstoppable. Since he bats lower down the order in the IPL, it’s an apple vs orange comparison. If you see his numbers, you feel the guy hasn’t done anything wrong. He also allows us one more thing. You can maintain a left-right combination. Will you drop Tilak Varma from the XI because I believe Shreyas Iyer’s best place to bat is either No. 3 or No. 4? If he goes to No. 5, I think it will be a little too low in T20 cricket, and Surya is at No. 4,” Aakash Chopra concluded.