Shreyas Iyer 'deserved it for long', 'tough' on Suryakumar Yadav: How experts, fans reacted to India's T20 squads

Shreyas Iyer was announced as India's new T20I captain on Saturday with Suryakumar Yadav getting dropped from the team altogether as BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia and chief selector Ajit Agarkar unveiled the T20I squads for the upcoming tour of the UK as well as the Asian Games.

Shreyas Iyer replaces Suryakumar Yadav as India T20I captain starting with the upcoming white-ball tours of Ireland and England. AP

FirstCricket Staff|Jun 06, 2026, 14:53:10 IST

The Indian team opted to start on a new page in the T20I format keeping the their title defence at the 2028 T20 World Cup in mind by appointing Shreyas Iyer as the new skipper in the 20-over format. However, Iyer's elevation to captaincy in T20Is comes at a cost with Suryakumar Yadav being dumped from the team altogether in addition to losing the role in the format.

Surya's reign as India T20I skipper thus ends with the Men in Blue's successful defence of their T20 World Cup at home in March. Iyer, meanwhile, returns to the T20I setup for the first time since December 2023, and bags the leadership role after leading three different Indian Premier League franchises into the final since 2020, helping Kolkata Knight Riders win the title in 2024.

Sooryavanshi earns maiden senior call-up at just 15

The other major takeaway from the squad announcement was the fast-tracking of 15-year-old Rajasthan Royals star Vaibhav Sooryavanshi into the senior team after an extraordinary Indian Premier League season, in which he won the Orange Cap after finishing with 776 runs at an extraordinary strike rate of 237.30.

Additionally, Agarkar and Co completely ignored the victorious Royal Challengers Bengaluru franchise for India's upcoming T20I assignments. Captain Rajat Patidar, who has led RCB to back-to-back titles now and is also a destructive batter in the middle order, was ignored as a leader and as a batter.

Senior pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was not considered despite enjoying a remarkable run with the ball, finishing with 28 wickets at an average and economy of 17.89 and 7.95 respectively.

Here's how experts as well as fans reacted to India's squad announcement on Saturday in Mumbai:

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