New Delhi [India], August 23 (ANI): Former South African batting great AB de Villiers expressed his thoughts over batter Shreyas Iyer's omission from the upcoming Asia Cup squad and hailed the batter for his 'maturity' and 'leadership qualities'.

Iyer, who led Punjab Kings (PBKS) to their first Indian Premier League (IPL) finals in a decade with his fiery leadership and batting, was one of the notable omissions from the Asia Cup squad, a move which has attracted plenty of criticism from fans and ex-cricketers alike.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, De Villiers said, 'Who knows what is going on behind closed doors. Maybe not even Shreyas knows. There might be a few things that have taken place over the years that is determined why he is not the flavour of the month this tournament. I am not sure what the reason is because he will be in my team more often than not.'

'I just read through that squad, and I was thinking where Shreyas Iyer can fit in. I have seen fans being upset about his exclusion, and Shreyas will be the most upset because he's played some really good cricket over the last few years. He has matured a lot and has shown a lot of leadership qualities,' he added.

De Villiers said that maybe it was some other factors, such as 'dragging the energy away from the squad' that kept him out, saying that as a captain, he would himself look for players who 'add value to the team room, does he uplift players around him?'.

'Thinking about when I was captaining, if there is a 50-50 call between two players, I would always lean towards the guy that offers more from a team perspective off the field. When it's 50-50 on the field, you have to start looking at other areas like 'Does he add value in the team room, does he have a smile on his face, does he uplift some of the other players around him?'. Or is he sort of dragging energy from the squad?,' said De Villiers.

'Maybe it is got something to do with that. I am just taking a complete guess because it is weird that a quality player like him not making the starting squad for Team India, especially with the leadership qualities he is bringing. Maybe it will be too much of a clash with him there, and maybe there are too many leaders and too many captains. Maybe the truth will come out one day and we will know why Shreyas is struggling to get into Team India,' he concluded.

Iyer was India's highest run-getter and overall second-highest run-getter in the Champions Trophy 2025, with 243 runs in five matches at an average of 48.60, with two fifties and a best score of 79, contributing massively to India's second successive white-ball title win.

Iyer ended up as the sixth-highest run-getter in the recently concluded IPL 2025 and had his best season, scoring 604 runs in 17 matches and innings at an average of 50.33, strike rate of 175.07 and six fifties. His best score was 97*.

Since the last T20 World Cup win, the Mumbai batter has played 26 T20 matches and scored 949 runs, with an average of 49.94, at a strike rate of 179.73, and a century and seven fifties. His best score is 130 not out. His last T20I for India saw him score a half-century for India, way back in late 2023 after the 50-over World Cup at home. (ANI)