Coach Gautam Gambhir was not willing to take Shreyas Iyer for the Champions Trophy 2025. It was the captain, Rohit Sharma, who forced Gambhir to take Iyer with him for the Champions Trophy. Shreyas Iyer was a crucial middle-order force, contributing 243 runs, the highest from the Indian Indian team, and the second highest in the tournament. Despite several reports suggesting that Shreyas might tour the UAE again for the 2025 Asia Cup, his exclusion raised eyebrows. Reports from RevSports claimed that it was Rohit Sharma who went for Shreyas Iyer aggressively. The reports further claim that the two-hour discussion before the squad selection was majorly on Rohit Sharma dismissing Gambhir's refusal to carry his Mumbai teammate. A journalist from RevSports said, "Before the Champions Trophy team selection also, Shreyas Iyer's position was uncertain. And it was Rohit Sharma who put his foot down and said, 'I want this man in this squad.'" Shamik: It was Rohit Sharma who put his foot down and said, ‘I want Shreyas Iyer in my squad for CT.’Grateful to Rohit for believing in himπ₯ΉSurya, you’re going to regret this. Don’t be a yes-man to Agarkar and Gambhir.pic.twitter.com/WlWHBGbveF — Rohanπ« (@rohann__45) August 19, 2025 Juglan – "Rohit Sharma fought for almost 3 hours to include Shreyas Iyer in the team against opposing voices who hate him and this is why the press conference got delayed."- That person is 100% Gambhir. How low will this greedy soul stoop? pic.twitter.com/TS874uTows — ππ¨π ππ§π¬ππ§π (@jod_insane) August 19, 2025 Later after winning the Champions Trophy, Rohit Sharma was heard praising Iyer for his silent contribution. Rohit said, "We knew the pitch was slow and we will need partnerships. Not to forget the silent hero, Shreyas Iyer. Throughout the tournament, he was brilliant. He was very very important in that middle phase for us, stiched partnerships with all the batters who were batting with him. That semifinal against Australia, with him and Virat (Kohli) at that point was very important. And even against Pakistan and New Zealand, the league game that we played... and even today, when I got out, we were three down... we required a partnership of 50 to 70 runs that Shreyas and Axar (Patel) did." Not only that, before touring for the Champions Trophy, Shreyas himself revealed in a post-match interaction with the presenters that he wasn't in the plan. Virat Kohli got injured and played as a replacement. Read also: R. Ashwin Criticizes Asia Cup Squad Over Jaiswal, Iyer Omission Shreyas Iyer ignored for the 2025 Asia Cup Despite a stellar outing for Punjab Kings in the 2025 Indian premier League, Shreyas Iyer has been ignored again, along with Yashasvi Jaiswal. Even though Jaiswal was named as a standby, Iyer was nowhere in the 20-man squad. During the press conference, BCCI chief selector, even though acknowledged Shreyas' effort in the T20 format, he finds neither any fault from BCCI's side, nor a space in the team to for Shreyas Iyer.