Suryakumar Yadav reacts to India's T20I captaincy change: Happy for Shreyas Iyer
India captain Suryakumar Yadav has sent his best wishes to Shreyas Iyer after the Indian selectors named the latter captain of the T20I side. The Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel handed the baton to Shreyas, who has not played a T20I since December 2023.
India's T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav does not have any hard feelings towards Shreyas Iyer replacing him as India's T20I captain. Surya, who led the Indian T20I team to the first-ever title defence in T20 World Cup history, has reacted to the captaincy snub by stating that he is just happy that the last three captains of the Indian T20I team have all come from Mumbai.
Speaking at the toss of the Mumbai T20 League match between Triumph Knights MNE and SoBo Mumbai Falcons, Suryakumar congratulated Shreyas on his inclusion in the T20I side, as well as his promotion to the captaincy.
"I am so happy for Shreyas for becoming the captain of the Indian T20I team. We have played all our cricket together here in Mumbai and it feels amazing that the last three T20 captains of India have all come from Mumbai," Suryakumar Yadav said on Saturday, hours after he was dropped from the Indian T20I team.
India T20 Squad Selection: As it Happened
The Indian selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, took the brutal decision of dropping Suryakumar Yadav from the side in India's very next T20I assignment after the T20 World Cup 2026. The call was taken with the future in mind as India look to build towards the 2028 Olympics and the T20 World Cup, which will take place in the same year.
Suryakumar Yadav's form has been an issue over the last one and a half years, and a lukewarm T20 World Cup meant that the selectors had to give precedence to the numerous players waiting in the wings.
Shreyas Iyer was elevated to the position of T20I captain despite not playing a single T20I game since December 2023, when he was unceremoniously dropped from the Indian cricket setup for allegedly not prioritising domestic cricket.
Shreyas worked his way back, first by winning IPL 2024 with Kolkata Knight Riders and then by taking Punjab Kings to the final of the tournament the very next year. He elevated his game to an extremely high level, bashing spin and pace alike and batting at a strike rate of 165 and above over the last two seasons.
INDIA'S NEW LOOK T20I TEAM
Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma (vc), Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
SURYAKUMAR WANTED TO PLAY OLYMPICS
Handed the captaincy after the T20 World Cup 2024, Suryakumar Yadav enjoyed a stellar stint as India's captain. Under him, India dominated bilateral T20I cricket, winning every series in which he led the side. At the T20 World Cup, despite initially struggling on challenging surfaces, India showed tremendous grit in their final three matches and routed New Zealand in the final.
Asked what he wanted to achieve after the T20 World Cup victory, Suryakumar, sitting next to head coach Gautam Gambhir, had said that his next goal was to win an Olympic gold medal.
"My next goal is an Olympic gold and the T20 World Cup, which is also in that year," Suryakumar Yadav had said.
Now, that dream looks unlikely given Shreyas Iyer's elevation to the captaincy and Tilak Varma's promotion to vice-captaincy, with both batters operating in the same role as Suryakumar.
India's T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav does not have any hard feelings towards Shreyas Iyer replacing him as India's T20I captain. Surya, who led the Indian T20I team to the first-ever title defence in T20 World Cup history, has reacted to the captaincy snub by stating that he is just happy that the last three captains of the Indian T20I team have all come from Mumbai.
Speaking at the toss of the Mumbai T20 League match between Triumph Knights MNE and SoBo Mumbai Falcons, Suryakumar congratulated Shreyas on his inclusion in the T20I side, as well as his promotion to the captaincy.
"I am so happy for Shreyas for becoming the captain of the Indian T20I team. We have played all our cricket together here in Mumbai and it feels amazing that the last three T20 captains of India have all come from Mumbai," Suryakumar Yadav said on Saturday, hours after he was dropped from the Indian T20I team.
India T20 Squad Selection: As it Happened
The Indian selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, took the brutal decision of dropping Suryakumar Yadav from the side in India's very next T20I assignment after the T20 World Cup 2026. The call was taken with the future in mind as India look to build towards the 2028 Olympics and the T20 World Cup, which will take place in the same year.
Suryakumar Yadav's form has been an issue over the last one and a half years, and a lukewarm T20 World Cup meant that the selectors had to give precedence to the numerous players waiting in the wings.
Shreyas Iyer was elevated to the position of T20I captain despite not playing a single T20I game since December 2023, when he was unceremoniously dropped from the Indian cricket setup for allegedly not prioritising domestic cricket.
Shreyas worked his way back, first by winning IPL 2024 with Kolkata Knight Riders and then by taking Punjab Kings to the final of the tournament the very next year. He elevated his game to an extremely high level, bashing spin and pace alike and batting at a strike rate of 165 and above over the last two seasons.
INDIA'S NEW LOOK T20I TEAM
Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma (vc), Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
SURYAKUMAR WANTED TO PLAY OLYMPICS
Handed the captaincy after the T20 World Cup 2024, Suryakumar Yadav enjoyed a stellar stint as India's captain. Under him, India dominated bilateral T20I cricket, winning every series in which he led the side. At the T20 World Cup, despite initially struggling on challenging surfaces, India showed tremendous grit in their final three matches and routed New Zealand in the final.
Asked what he wanted to achieve after the T20 World Cup victory, Suryakumar, sitting next to head coach Gautam Gambhir, had said that his next goal was to win an Olympic gold medal.
"My next goal is an Olympic gold and the T20 World Cup, which is also in that year," Suryakumar Yadav had said.
Now, that dream looks unlikely given Shreyas Iyer's elevation to the captaincy and Tilak Varma's promotion to vice-captaincy, with both batters operating in the same role as Suryakumar.
