Shreyas Iyer has replaced Suryakumar Yadav as India’s T20 captain for the first time for 15-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi as the national selectors begin planning for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2028 T20 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The T20I squad for the tour of Ireland and England is expected to be announced on Saturday, marking India’s first T20I assignment since Suryakumar Yadav won the T20 World Cup title in March.
The 35-year-old is likely to be dropped from the squad altogether. Questions over his future intensified after the 2026 T20 World Cup, where he scored 242 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 136.72, followed by a disappointing IPL 2026 campaign.
With Suryakumar Yadav and Thilak Verma occupying key middle-order roles, his potential successor, 31-year-old Shreyas Iyer, has not featured in T20Is since December 2023 due to team balance issues.
He was last included in the T20I squad as an injury replacement during the domestic series against New Zealand in January, but did not play as India prioritized players selected for the next T20 World Cup.
However, Iyer brings strong leadership credentials, having led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title in 2024 and Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings to the finals in 2020 and 2025 respectively.
He scored 604 runs at a strike rate of 175.07 in 2025 and 498 runs at an average of 168.81 in 2026.
This marks the second consecutive year of major leadership changes in Indian cricket. In 2025, Rohit Sharma led India to the Champions Trophy title in March but was later replaced as ODI captain ahead of the series in Australia in October, although he remained part of the ODI set-up.
Meanwhile, teenager Vaibhav Suryavanshi became one of the youngest players ever to be selected for the Indian men’s team since Sachin Tendulkar in the late 1980s.
The 15-year-old scored 776 runs at a remarkable strike rate of 237.30 in the IPL season.
Before the T20I tour of Ireland and England, he will represent India A in the tri-series in Sri Lanka, which includes Afghanistan, scheduled from June 9 to 21.
Before the five-match T20I series in England from July 1 to 11, India will play two T20Is against Ireland in Belfast on June 26 and 28.