Not Shubman Gill! 31-Year-Old To Replace Suryakumar Yadav As India's New T20I Captain

Shreyas Iyer is reportedly set to become India’s next T20I captain. According to a Sports Tak report, Suryakumar Yadav will be excluded from the squad for the two-T20I series in Ireland, to be played between June 26 and 28, meaning the 2026 T20 World Cup final was likely his last match for the country.

Reports earlier on Wednesday suggested that Shreyas has been the chief selector Ajit Agarkar’s preference for a long time, which only got more intense as Suryakumar lost form. The only roadblocks for Shreyas were Suryakumar’s status as a World Cup-winning captain and the support he had from head coach Gautam Gambhir — the duo are said to be quite close as decision makers in the dressing room and off the field, too.

However, the latest report said

that while Gambhir will be consulted about the role change, the most he would be able to do would be ‘delay the inevitable’.

Suryakumar, 35, has gradually lost support in the last couple of years, since he has fallen off from his status as one of the best T20 batters in the world. Shreyas has made big gains simultaneously, winning the IPL 2024 with Kolkata Knight Riders and then taking serial underperformers Punjab Kings to the final in 2025.

In 2024, there was still some doubt about his batting fit for T20. He has since taken his batting to a newer level too, scoring 604 runs at an average of 50.33 and a strike rate of 175.07 in 2025, followed by 498 runs at an average of 55.33 and a strike rate of 168.81 in 2026.

It probably helps Shreyas’ case that he’s a middle-order batter and can directly replace Suryakumar in the playing 11.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi to play

The report also said that Sooryavanshi is set to be included in the squad and might get a few chances in the playing 11, too. The 15-year-old scored 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30 to win the Most Valuable Player of the tournament award.