Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar shared his thoughts on the captaincy change in the T20I format in the Indian team. As BCCI announced the Indian squad for the T20I series in Ireland and England and the Asian Games 2026, Shreyas Iyer was unveiled as the new captain, replacing Suryakumar Yadav.
However, Manjrekar thought that Shubman Gill had better credentials as captain since India would be playing the majority of their T20Is overseas, and the next T20 World Cup in 2028 is also in Australia and New Zealand.
Shreyas Iyer was chosen as India's T20I captain based on his leadership accolades in IPL, where he became the first captain to lead three different sides to an IPL final and also won the IPL 2024 with Kolkata Knight Riders.
He has been excellent with the bat for Punjab Kings in the last two IPL seasons. On the other hand, Gill (732 runs) led the Gujarat Titans to the final and finished as the second-highest run-getter, only behind Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (776).
“Shreyas Iyer is a very interesting choice. He wasn't able to get a place in the T20 squad for the last few months. But now, straightaway, India's T20 captain. When you pick a player or make him the captain or vice-captain you've got to also make sure that that player fits into the squad and has got a confirmed place in the squad and that is where I think should been Shubman Gil has missed out because I think Gill has better credentials than Shreyas Iyer to be India's long-term T20 captain,” Manjrekar said on the Sony Sports Network.
“T20S will now be played away from India, Ireland, England, two venues, and eventually the World Cup will be in Australia and New Zealand, and I believe Gill was better suited to take that responsibility, but that's only a cricketing thought. But how do you fit Gill in the playing 11 because you've got two openers already doing so well with Sooryavanshi as your third option? So, they've gone for a captain who they could fit in the playing 11. Because Gill is an opening batter, he lost out on that opportunity or that appointment, but his time is not too far,” he added.
Manjrekar also spoke about Shreyas’ career, given that he last played a T20I in 2023 for India and was also removed from the central contracts list by the BCCI. However, he has earned his place back through grind in domestic cricket and the IPL. He was also India's MVP in the Champions Trophy win in 2025.
“His career has gone through some ups and downs. There was a time when he was denied the BCCI contract as an Indian player because the selectors felt that he was not prioritising domestic cricket, and his priorities weren't the way the selectors wanted it to be and after that, but that happened it was something that he took to heart and immediately post that, you saw his tremendous performance when he came back into the Indian ODI squad. I thought he played superbly. Had a great IPL season for his franchise last season, and I thought his batting form was greater last season as opposed to this season,” said Manjrekar.
“When you look at Shreyas Iyer, he's got the numbers. He's got the leadership and performance. So, yes, a guy who's been picked because he bats in the middle order, and you can have a place for Shreyas Iyer in the future with the next World Cup. With Shubman Gill, that is what actually weakened this case, but on pure ability, I will say that I like Shubman Gill more as a captain and a T20 top-order batter. Considering that the T20S will not be played on flat pitches anymore, like you've seen at the last in a couple of years,” he added.
