Shreyas Iyer has been officially announced as the new captain of the Indian T20I team for series against Ireland and England apart from Asian Games 2026 while Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has also been called up for first time.
Published: June 6, 2026, 1:58 PM IST
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Shreyas Iyer has replaced Suryakumar Yadav as new Indian T20I captain. (Image: AI)
It was a historic day in Indian cricket on June 6 as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selectors announced a new captain for the Indian T20I team as also called up a 15-year-old prodigy for the first time ever for the senior team. On much expected lines, Shreyas Iyer has become the new Indian T20I skipper replacing Suryakumar Yadav for the series against Ireland and England as well as the Asian Games 2026 tournament while Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has won his first-ever call-up into the Indian squad.
At 15 years and 71 days old, Sooryavanshi has obliterated the record of Sachin Tendulkar by becoming the youngest-ever Indian cricketer to be selected for the Indian team. Tendulkar had set his record back in 1989 – more than 37 years back.
India will travel to Ireland for two T20Is (June 26 and 28), followed by a five-match T20I series against England between July 1 and 11. The Asian Games 2026 are scheduled to take place in Japan in September this year.
Shreyas Iyer makes T20I comeback after 3 years
Mumbai batter Shreyas Iyer has returned to the Indian T20I side for the first time after nearly 3 years. His last international T20I match came against Australia at Bengaluru on December 3, 2023.
Iyer is the only captain in the history of the Indian Premier League to lead three different teams into the final. He achieved this first as skipper with Delhi Capitals side in IPL 2020, then Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024 and finally with Punjab Kings in IPL 2025 season.
He also won the IPL 2025 title with the KKR team in IPL 2024 before being bought by Bollywood star Preity Zinta co-owned Punjab Kings for Rs 26.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction. He was retained for the same price in IPL 2026 season but failed to lift his side to the Playoffs.
“We have seen what Iyer has done in the last few years. We have seen what we possibly can. He was quite close getting to World Cup squad. In my opinion a standout candidate,” BCCI chief selector Ajit Agarkar said about Iyer’s elevation as captain.
Iyer has scored 1104 runs in 51 T20I matches in his career so far at an average of 30.66 and a strike-rate of 136.12 with eight fifties to his name. He also slammed 604 runs in 17 matches in IPL 2025 season at a strike-rate of 175.07 and added another 498 runs in IPL 2026 season at a strike-rate of 168.81 with an average of 55.33.
Middle-order batter Tilak Varma will be Iyer’s deputy in place of Axar Patel, while pacer Lucknow Super Giants pacer Prince Yadav was drafted for the series against England and Ireland as Jasprit Bumrah has been rested. Bumrah has been selected for the squad that will take part in Asian Games 2026.
Sooryavanshi’s inclusion was imminent after the 15-year-old bagged the Orange Cap in 2026, scoring 776 runs with a hundred and five fifties at an astonishing strike rate of 237.30.
Presenting #TeamIndia‘s newest T20I captain
Congratulations to Shreyas Iyer as he takes the helm in the shortest format of the game @ShreyasIyer15 pic.twitter.com/frfAXAOkTA
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 6, 2026
India squad for Ireland and England T20 series: Shreyas Iyer (C), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vc), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammad Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
India squad for Asian Games: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Vaibhav Sooryavnshi.
India squad for multi day matches in Sri Lanka: Dhruv Jurel (c&wk), Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh, Saransh, Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi, Yash Thakur, N Jagadeesan, Aman Mokade, Sheikh Rashid and Ansari.
