Head Coach Gautam Gambhir on Wednesday sidestepped queries on Shreyas Iyer's exclusion from the Indian team for the England tour but lauded the BCCI for inviting the chiefs of the country's armed forces to attend the IPL final on June 3 in Ahmedabad.
Iyer, who is in terrific form, could not find place in India's 18-man squad for the five Test series against England, starting June 20 in Leeds.
India will be led by young Shubman Gill with Rishabh Pant as his deputy.
'I am not a selector,' was Gambhir's terse reply when he was about Iyer, who has led Punjab Kings to the IPL play-offs.
Gambhir, a former BJP MP, was effusive in his praise for the Indian cricket board for inviting the three chiefs of the armed forces to attend the IPL title clash, saying, 'It's an unbelievable step.'
'We normally criticise the BCCI a lot on a lot of things, but this is something which is unbelievable. BCCI has taken an initiative from the point of view that the entire nation is one and the entire nation has to salute the armed forces for what they do unconditionally,' he said.
'We have got to give a lot of credit to the BCCI and more importantly to our armed forces who have been unconditionally helping and saving us and protecting us.'
BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia announced that the Board had invited General Upendra Dwivedi, chief of the army staff, Admiral Dinesh Kumar Tripathi, chief of the naval staff, and Air Chief Marshal Amar Preet Singh, chief of the air staff, to watch the IPL final at the Modi stadium.