Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin has reflected on the team management’s decision to not play Shreyas Iyer in the fourth T20I against New Zealand. While Ashwin expressed his disappointment that Iyer didn’t get his chance even when Ishan Kishan had a niggle, he admitted that the team’s think tank decided while keeping the larger picture in mind, as the Mumbai batter is not part of the World Cup squad.

In Iyer’s place, India added Arshdeep Singh to the final XI and played with six batters and five specialist bowlers. Iyer last played a T20I in December 2023 and scored 604 runs in 17 matches of IPL 2025 at an average of 50.33 and a blistering strike rate of 175.07.

“There is a lot of fandom for many players these days due to IPL and all of that. Shreyas is a good player, and I also want to see him. But if you look at the larger picture, the team management did what they wanted to do,” he said on ‘Ash ki Baat’.

On the other hand, Shivam Dube smashed a blistering knock of 65 runs off just 23 balls, including three fours and seven sixes. Ashwin said the big teams will target Dube with fast bowlers in the T20 World Cup, which is not his forte and urged the batter to keep improving his game.

“The way Dube played last night, I was not surprised. He has that ability. He is in the team because he is considered a spin hitter and he is very good at it. If he plays like this and even if he comes off for two overs, India can get very far ahead in the game. But Dube will have some work to do. He is a powerful and fierce hitter. Come the World Cup, against teams like South Africa, Australia, England, we can be sure that Dube won’t get spinners against him when he comes to bat. It is upon us that cricketers realise that every month we need to make improvements. Otherwise, the game will start catching up,” he said.

The fifth and final T20I between India and New Zealand will be played at Thiruvanthapuram on Saturday.