Leaving out someone like Shreyas Iyer shows India’s squad depth: Ross Taylor

Former New Zealand batter Ross Taylor on Friday said the depth in India’s T20I squad for the Asia Cup allowed the national selectors to leave out a player of Shreyas Iyer’s calibre, who was ignored for the continental tournament.

Iyer, who had an impressive domestic season and also led his IPL franchise Punjab Kings into the final, failed to find a place in the 15-member squad announced earlier this week.

“I haven’t seen the side yet so can’t say. (But) when you can leave that type of quality out, you’ve got to be pretty comfortable with the depth of your squad,” Taylor told PTI Videos on the sidelines of a CLT10 League event.

He also lavished praise on new Test skipper Shubman Gill, who led India to 2-2 draw in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy.

“It was a great series against England, whenever you go in the foreign conditions in Test cricket, especially these days, you have to take it very well. He has played in great spirits and led from the front.”

One of New Zealand’s all-time great batters, Taylor will turn out for the Supreme Stallions in the CLT10 League.

“It has gone full circle started playing with the tennis ball and now finishing my career playing with the tennis ball, its a great concept of 10 overs,” Taylor said.

“The way these players go out and expresses themselves their, it is an opportunity to go out and showcase their talent and I am sure that as the tournament goes on we will get to know about these players even more,” he added.

Meanwhile, former Sri Lanka pacer Farvez Maharoof seconded Taylor’s comments, saying India are spoilt for choices even though they will play Asia Cup without Iyer as well as opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal.

“India is spoilt for choices. (Ajit) Agarkar (chairman of selectors) is just too straight forward. These two guys haven’t done wrong. One (Jaiswal) takes on the bowlers from ball one, while the other is a leader of men. The system in India to produce players is fantastic,” Maharoof said.

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Maharoof said the Indian squad has all bases covered and the defending champions are “favourites” to win the Asia Cup. He highlighted the role of all-rounder Hardik Pandya.

“Going into the Asia Cup, India is the favourite, looking at the side that they have picked, they have got all the bases covered,” he said.

“Hardik Pandya, on his day, is a match winner. We saw that in the T20 World Cup in West Indies, we saw it in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka (2023), whenever he performed well India have done well. For me in this side, Hardik Pandya can make the difference,” he added.

Maharoof said the culture of the Sri Lankan national team has changed ever since Sanath Jayasuriya took over as head coach.

“Ever since Jayasuriya took over, there has been a big change in the culture and performances as well,” he said.