Shreyas Iyer becomes only 2nd Indian captain to...

• Shreyas Iyer loses first two T20Is as India captain against Ireland
• India loses series 2-0, ending a 16-match T20I series winning streak
• Iyer leads India in the upcoming five-match T20I series against England

Shreyas Iyer captained India in the two-match T20I series against Ireland in June 2026 but ended up on the losing side in both matches. In his maiden T20I as India’s captain, Ireland defeated the visitors

by 34 runs in Belfast on Friday (June 26) before following it up with a thrilling one-run victory at the same venue on Sunday (June 28).

The back-to-back defeats against the Irish team have placed Iyer on an unwanted list. The 31-year-old right-handed batter from Mumbai has become only the second Indian after Rishabh Pant, to lose each of his first two T20Is as captain of Indian men’s cricket team.

Pant made his T20I captaincy debut in June 2022 during the home series against South Africa and also lost the first two matches of the five-match series.

Iyer, who is the only captain to have led three different IPL franchises to the final, also endured a disappointing series with the bat. He scored just three runs off seven balls in the first T20I and followed it up with 10 off seven balls while batting at No. 4 in the second match.

India’s defeat in the first T20I under Iyer’s captaincy was their first-ever loss to Ireland in international cricket. Sunday’s one-run defeat also saw India lose a T20I series to Ireland for the first time. It additionally brought an end to India’s streak of 16 consecutive T20I series victories.

After a disappointing start to his T20I captaincy tenure, Iyer will be hoping to bounce back in the upcoming five-match T20I series against England.

The Indian men’s team will travel to England next week for a white-ball tour comprising five T20Is and three ODIs. Iyer will continue to lead the side in the T20I series, which begins on July 1 in Chester-le-Street, while Shubman Gill will captain India in the ODI series.

The selectors have retained the same squad for both the Ireland and England T20I series, and it will be interesting to see what changes the team management makes to the playing XI.

There have been growing calls for the inclusion of 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in India’s XI, and the teenage sensation could be in line for his debut during the England series.