The IPL Act Of Shreyas Iyer Which Sealed Him India T20I Captaincy. Ajit Agarkar With Details
Shreyas Iyer is the chosen one by BCCI. In the biggest move, as part of the sweeping changes that were enforced on Saturday, Iyer has been named the skipper of the T20I team
- Shreyas Iyer named captain of India T20I team for Ireland and England series
- "We have seen what he has done over the last few years, leading different IPL franchises," Ajit Agarkar said
- "(He) won the final once. We have seen everything that a captain possibly can (handle)," he added
Shreyas Iyer is the chosen one by BCCI. In the biggest move as part of sweeping changes that were enforced on Saturday, Iyer has been named the skipper of the T20I team. Shreyas has returned to the national T20 side for the first time after a match against Australia in Bengaluru on December 3, 2023. He has been named as the captain for the Ireland series (two T20Is), followed by a five-match T20I series against England between July 1 and 11. He will lead in the Asian Games too. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has got a look-in too.
"With regards to Shreyas, we have seen what he has done over the last few years, leading different IPL franchises," chief selector Ajit Agarkar told media after announcing the squads for various tours.
"(He) won the final once, and from there a tougher season this year after a great start. We have seen everything that a captain possibly can (handle). His own performances have been really good. He was quite close to getting into the (T20) World Cup squad as well. With Surya still there, there was no room for him, so he is in my opinion a stand-out candidate with enough experience now having led in the T20 format; this is obviously a different challenge," Agarkar added.
Middle-order batter Tilak Varma will be Shreyas' deputy, while pacer Prince Yadav, who had an impressive season for Lucknow Super Giants, was drafted for the series against England and Ireland.
Agarkar said Tilak can learn more about the job of leading a side while being the deputy to Shreyas, a clear indication of his growth in the white-ball format as a key member. Lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah will miss the T20I series against England and Ireland, but he will come back for the Asian Games, to be held in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.
All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who is in India's ODI squad for the series against Afghanistan later this month, did not feature in any of the teams. Seasoned pacer Mohammed Siraj will tour England and Ireland but will miss the Asian Games as the Hyderabad man will be playing the home ODI rubber against the West Indies.
All-rounder Harshit Rana too has returned to the India set-up after missing the whole of the IPL for Kolkata Knight Riders owing to an injury. Wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel will lead India in the two multi-day matches against Sri Lanka.
Devdutt Padikkal will be the vice-captain, and Ruturaj Gaikwad too found a place in the squad.
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, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
India squad for Asian Games: 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, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
India squad for multi-day matches in Sri Lanka: Dhruv Jurel (c & wk), Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dube, Saransh Jain, Gurnoor Brar, Aqib Nabi, Yash Thakur, N Jagadeesan, Aman Mokade, Sheikh Rashid and Ansari
India Cricket Team
Ireland Cricket Team
England Cricket Team