Shreyas Iyer Storm Hits IPL 2026 And How It Can Be Bad News For Suryakumar Yadav
It was yet another impressive knock from Punjab Kings' Shreyas Iyer as he scored 66 off just 35 balls to guide his team to victory against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026.
It was yet another impressive knock from Punjab Kings' Shreyas Iyer as he scored 66 off just 35 balls to guide his team to victory against Mumbai Indians in IPL 2026 on Thursday. It has been a dream start for PBKS in this year's competition till now as they have not lost a single game and the only time they dropped a point was because the encounter against Kolkata Knight Riders was washed out. While Shreyas the batter has dominated the headlines with 203 runs in 5 matches, it was Shreyas the captain who has sparked a national debate.
Despite winning the T20 World Cup 2026 title, Suryakumar Yadav's batting form has been a major source of concern in the past year and Shreyas has recently emerged as a strong successor to the position.
While the opening partnership of Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson was quite impressive in the World Cup, Ishan Kishan also won over a lot of critics with his show at No. 3. However, it was Suryakumar's form at No. 4 that did not sit well with fans.
Despite scoring an unbeaten half-century against the USA in the first match, his form took a nosedive in the competition.
He did not score a single 50-plus score after that match and despite his team winning a record second consecutive T20 World Cup title, he crossed the 30-run mark on just three occasions, with a golden duck in the final against New Zealand.
In contrast, Shreyas has emerged as a dependable batting option at No. 4 for Punjab Kings in the last couple of years. Despite playing at No. 3 initially, he demoted himself to accommodate Josh Inglis in 2025 and this year, he did it once again with Cooper Connelly playing ahead of him. However, his numbers were not disturbed as he scored 604 runs last season.
Add to that the fact that he took PBKS to their first IPL final in over 11 years just after joining them and we have a captain with a solid pedigree in leading the team in the shortest format of the sport. During his time in the IPL, he led Delhi Capitals to the final in 2020, won the title with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 and is currently at the helm of an in-form PBKS side.
Recently, a PTI report claimed that the Indian management were not sure about keeping Suryakumar as the T20I captain and will consider his position after the white-ball series against England.
"Obviously Surya is now leading the team. But he also has to ensure that as a batter, he maintains a level of consistency in his performances. Obviously, he will lead in the UK but after that, discussions going forward till 2028 could be purely performance-based," a BCCI source said on condition of anonymity.
In that situation, the team management is likely to look at a long-term option who can lead the side in the next two T20 World Cups and the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Shubman Gill has been out of favour in T20Is as he was not picked for the World Cup and the selection committee has not given Hardik Pandya any leadership role in the recent past. In this situation, Shreyas has emerged as a strong contender for the captaincy considering his success - both as batter and captain.
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