'Reaching IPL final no reason for India captaincy': Sandeep Sharma on Shreyas Iyer debate

Sandeep Sharma gives his take on Shreyas Iyer debate. (Photo: BCCI)

Shreyas Iyer’s exclusion from India’s squad for the Asia Cup 2025 has stirred debate across the cricketing fraternity. Many fans and analysts were left puzzled by the selectors’ call, especially considering Iyer’s outstanding performance in the IPL 2025. The Punjab Kings skipper not only guided his side to their first final in more than ten years but also shone with the bat.

Over the course of 17 innings, the right-hander piled up 604 runs at an impressive average of 50.33 and a blistering strike rate of 175.07, finishing as the sixth-highest run-getter of the tournament. His consistency and leadership prompted some in Indian cricket to suggest that he could even be a contender for the national captaincy.

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However, Rajasthan Royals pacer Sandeep Sharma has a different perspective.

In an exclusive conversation with CricTracker, the seasoned bowler explained why franchise captaincy should not be confused with leading the national team. “See, this debate that he as a captain took his team to the finals is senseless. Surya [Suryakumar Yadav] is not doing the captaincy of any franchise. So that is not the criteria to be the captain of the Indian side. And for the last three years, Rohit was not doing the captaincy of any franchise. But still, he was the captain of T20 Indian team and one day side is still the same captain. And he was the captain of all three formats of Tests. So that is not the criteria that what you do in IPL. IPL is totally different. It is a domestic league,” Sharma remarked.

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He further highlighted the contrasting challenges between running an IPL side and managing the Indian team. “Like that BCCI has its own domestic league, right? And when you are picking an international team, there you are picking 15 people. So you pick a captain who will manage 15 people better there. Here in IPL, you have a lot of domestic players, a lot of young players. Some of them come from overseas. But here you are picking someone who will manage 15 people better here. So this debate, I feel senseless that what is he doing in IPL. These two teams are totally different teams. Indian team is a totally different team. IPL team is a totally different team. So I feel people need to learn and people need to understand more about this thing before commenting,” he explained.