Shreyas Iyer turned down the opportunity to lead West Zone in the Duleep Trophy, according to a Times of India report. Initially, Iyer was offered the captaincy, but after he declined, the selectors gave the role to Shardul Thakur. Despite this, Iyer confirmed his availability for the competition.

It’s been suggested that Iyer was hoping for a place in the Asia Cup 2025 squad and wanted to focus on his white-ball preparations with his personal coach, Pravin Amre. The Asia Cup will begin on September 9, while the Duleep Trophy semifinals are scheduled between September 4 and 7.

A source informed Times of India, “Yes, it’s true that Iyer declined the offer from the West Zone selection committee to captain the side. Following that, Sanjay Patil, the chairman of the committee and also the Mumbai chief selector, reached out to Thakur to take on the captaincy, which Thakur happily accepted.”

Earlier this week, the 15-player squad for the Asia Cup was announced, but Iyer, despite his stellar performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) with Punjab Kings—scoring 604 runs at a strike rate of 175 and guiding the team to their first final in 11 years—was left out.

West Zone squad for Duleep Trophy: Harvik Desai (Wicket-Ceper), Shardul Thakur (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sarfaraz Khan, Aarya Desai, Shreyas Iyer, Manan Hingraji, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Jaymeet Patel, Tanush Kotian, Saurabh Nawale (wicket -keter), Shams Mulani, Dharmandrasin Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Arzan Nagwaswala