Shreyas Iyer replaced Suryakumar Yadav as the captain of the Indian T20I team.
The dashing right-hander couldn’t score a T20I half-century last year, and also failed to leave a mark against the top-ranked teams during India’s triumphant T20 World Cup campaign. He carried his poor form into the IPL 2026, scoring 270 runs in 13 innings at a low average of 20.77 for the Mumbai Indians (MI).
While Shreyas Iyer took over the captaincy, Tilak Varma was named his deputy. BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar cited long-term planning and Surya’s lean patch for the leadership transition.
However, former chairman of selectors MSK Prasad is finding it hard to believe that Suryakumar has been sidelined from the T20I set-up for poor performance.
Prasad reckons it is impossible to drop a T20 World Cup-winning captain. He claimed that Suryakumar has been rested due to a taxing IPL season with MI, similarly to fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
"You don't drop your World Cup-winning captain like that and that too in the next international match itself. Jasprit Bumrah is rested and so is Hardik Pandya. I am sure, Surya has also been rested. He is too good and too big a player to be dropped," Prasad said while speaking to PTI.
"The selectors have rested all three. It's interesting to see all three — Suryakumar, Hardik and Bumrah — have been No. 1 players in the ICC rankings for a very long time. Bumrah is still No. 1. So, no harm in giving all three rest. I am sure all of them will come back to the team sooner than later," he added.
Prasad also questioned the logic behind omitting Rajat Patidar from India's T20I squad. Under Patidar's captaincy, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) secured back-to-back IPL titles in 2025 and 2026.
"I am really surprised. When will you take him if not now? He has done so well as a player and has been a match-winner. He has led RCB to two consecutive IPL titles. He is in tremendous form and is high on confidence. This was an opportune time to give him a chance. But I am sure selectors have some ideas for him. He may be given a chance in a bigger and tougher series or tournament," he remarked.
India's T20I squads for Ireland and England tours: Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma (vc), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shivam Dube, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav
India's squad for 2026 Asian Games: Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma (vc), Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ishan Kishan (wk), Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi