Shreyas Iyer set to replace Suryakumar as India's T20I captain

India's T20I captain will be Shreyas Iyer, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will get his first call-up as the national selectors prepare for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 and the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The T20I squad for the upcoming tour of Ireland and England will be announced on Saturday. This will be India's first T20I assignment since Suryakumar led them to the T20 World Cup title in March.

Suryakumar, who is 35 years old, is likely to be dropped completely from the team. The debate around his position arose following a lukewarm 2026 T20 World Cup, where he scored 242 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 136.72, and a poor IPL 2026 where he recorded only 270 runs in 13 innings at an average of 20.76 and a strike rate of 147.54.

His successor Shreyas is 31 but has not played a T20I since December 2023 due to India's inability to find a place for him due to squad combinations, with Suryakumar and Tilak Varma occupying middle-order positions. In January of this year, Shreyas was called up to the T20I squad as an injury replacement during the home series against New Zealand. However, India preferred to select the players who would play in the T20 World Cup that followed, so Shreyas did not play.

Shreyas, on the other hand, has demonstrated his abilities as a captain by leading Delhi Capitals (DC) and Punjab Kings (PBKS) to the final in 2020 and 2025, respectively, as well as leading Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to the IPL title in 2024. He scored 604 runs in IPL 2025 at a strike rate of 175.07 and 498 runs in IPL 2026 at a strike rate of 168.81.

India's selection committee is making this decision for the second year in a row. In 2025, Rohit Sharma led India to the Champions Trophy title in March, but he was replaced as ODI captain by the selectors prior to India's October series in Australia. Rohit, on the other hand, continued to play in the ODI squad.

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Sooryavanshi is set to become the youngest player selected in an India men's squad since Sachin Tendulkar in the late 1980s, following a blockbuster IPL season where he made 776 runs at a strike rate of 237.30. Sooryavanshi will play for India A in a tri-series with Afghanistan in Sri Lanka from June 9 to 21 prior to the T20I tour of Ireland and England.

On June 26 and 28, India will host Ireland in two Twenty20 Internationals in Belfast, followed by five matches in England from July 1 to 11.