The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s squad for the forthcoming England and Ireland Tours 2026 on Saturday, June 6. The selection meeting was held at the board’s headquarters
with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and BCCI honorary secretary Devajit Saikia addressing the media. As per the announcement, Shreyas Iyer has been officially named as India’s captain for the forthcoming tour, while prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi earned his maiden call-up.
Notably, the change in captaincy of the T20I squad came after the selectors decided to drop Suryakumar Yadav from the position following a below-par performance with the bat. Despite leading India to their third T20 World Cup title, Yadav couldn’t do much individually. He could only manage to score 242 runs at an average of 30.25 with his standout performance being an unbeaten 84 against the USA. In addition to it, in the most-recently concluded IPL 2026, Yadav scored 270 runs at an average of 20.77, and a strike rate of 147.54.
With the announcement, Yadav not only lost the captaincy but was also left out of the squad entirely. It certainly comes as a significant shift in India’s T20 setup. SKY was a key figure in the side’s recent win at the marquee tournament, but it seems that selectors have now opted for a new direction, handing the reins to Shreyas Iyer.
Presenting #TeamIndia's T20I squads for the tours of England & Ireland 2026 🇮🇳#ENGvIND | #IREvIND pic.twitter.com/f84kSSAIDf
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 6, 2026
Shreyas Iyer named India’s T20I captain, Sooryavanshi gets maiden call-up
Iyer, who returned to India’s T20I side for the first time since December 2023, has had a series of excellent performances in the last couple of years. Not only did Iyer lead Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title in 2024, but also received praise for leading the Punjab Kings for two successive seasons. In the 2025 season, he made over 600 runs in a season for the first time in his IPL career, and had 498 runs in the IPL 2026 campaign with a maiden ton in the team’s final outing of the season.
On the other hand, Sooryavanshi has been on a rise over the last 12 months. With his maiden call-up, he became the youngest player to be selected for the Indian team at the age of 15 years and 70 days. Notably, the youngster has had a successful individual campaign in the IPL 2026, where he scored 776 runs at a staggering strike rate of 237.31 that included a tournament high of 72 sixes. The Bihar cricketer not only played a crucial role in guiding the Rajasthan Royals to the playoffs but also bagged several awards, including the Orange Cap, Emerging Player Award as well as the MVP Award.
Here’s how India’s squad for the forthcoming tours looks like-
India squad vs Ireland, England:
Shreyas lyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vc), Nitish Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
