India, Aug. 20 -- A Rage Room is a private space where aggrieved individuals can express their frustrations in a liberatingly physical manner. Draped in protective equipment, they are presented with a curated line-up of breakable items - glass bottles, old television sets, ceramics - that they can smash to smithereens to let off steam. Had Shreyas Iyer sought out a Rage Room on Tuesday, he would have been perfectly entitled to do so.

Shreyas had good cause to believe he'd be back in India's Twenty20 plans when the national selectors met in Mumbai to pick the 15-member squad for the Asia Cup, in the desert sands of the Emirates next month. With six months to India's defence of the World Cup grabbed spectacularly in Bridgetown in June last...