Shreyas Iyer to replace Surya kumar as india's T20I captain

NewsShreyas Iyer to replace Suryakumar Yadav as India's T20I captain

Suryakumar had led India to the T20 World Cup title in March, but has been in poor batting form

ESPNcricinfo staffPublished: Jun 4, 2026, 8:33 PM (5 hrs ag

Why SKY is set to be replaced as T20I captai

Shreyas Iyer is set to replace Suryakumar Yadav as India's T20I captain, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is set for his maiden call-up, as the national selectors look ahead to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and the next T20 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand the same year.

The T20I squad will be announced on Saturday for the upcoming tour of Ireland and England, India's first T20I assignment since Suryakumar led them to the T20 World Cup tile in March.

Suryakumar, 35, is likely to be dropped from the squad altogether. The debate around his position arose following a lukewarm 2026 T20 World Cup, where he scored 242 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 136.72, and a poor IPL 2026 where he recorded only 270 runs in 13 innings at an average of 20.76 and a strike rate of 147.54.

His successor Shreyas is 31 but has not played a T20I since December 2023 due to India's inability to find a place for him due to squad combinations, with Suryakumar and Tilak Varma occupying middle-order positions. Shreyas was most recently called up to the T20I squad as an injury replacement during the home series against New Zealand in January this year, but did not play a game because India preferred to pick the players who were going to play in the T20 World Cup that followed.

Shreyas, however, has proven captaincy credentials, having led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the IPL title in 2024 and led Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the final in 2020 and 2025, respectively. He scored 604 runs at a strike rate of 175.07 in IPL 2025 and 498 runs at a strike rate of 168.81 in IPL 2026.

It is the second successive year in which India's selectors are making such a decision. In 2025, Rohit Sharma had captained India to the Champions Trophy title in March, but the selectors replaced him as ODI captain before India's next series in Australia in October. Rohit, however, continued to be part of the ODI squad.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Sooryavanshi is set to become the youngest player selected in an India men's squad since Sachin Tendulkar in the late 1980s, following a blockbuster IPL season where he made 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30. Before the T20I tour of Ireland and England, Sooryavanshi will play for India A in a tri-series in Sri Lanka also involving Afghanistan from June 9 to 21.

India play Ireland in two T20Is in Belfast on June 26 and 28, followed by five T20Is 💞💞

in England from July 1 to 11.

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