'Happy for Shreyas Iyer' - Suryakumar Yadav opens up on India's T20I captaincy change

Suryakumar Yadav has been replaced by Shreyas Iyer as the captain of the Indian team in the T20I format. The decision was officially confirmed on Saturday, June 6, by chief selector Ajit Agarkar and BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia during the press conference after announcing India's squads for the T20Is against Ireland, England, and the subsequent Asian Games.

Reports had been doing the rounds over the last few days about Suryakumar being stripped of captaincy and Shreyas taking charge. The former has not been at his best with the bat in T20I cricket for quite some time. Even during the Indian Premier League this year, he had one of his most underwhelming seasons.

Only a few hours after being replaced by Shreyas, Suryakumar stepped onto the field, playing for the Triumph Knights Mumbai North East, playing against SoBo Mumbai Falcons at the Wankhede Stadium. The 35-year-old, who leads the Triumph Knights, was asked at the toss about his reactions to the latest development in Indian cricket.

Suryakumar said he was happy for Shreyas, having played together in domestic cricket for so many years, representing Mumbai. They also shared the Indian dressing room. Suryakumar mentioned that the last three Indian T20I captains - Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar, and Shreyas - have come from Mumbai.

"I am so happy for Shreyas for becoming the captain of the Indian T20I team. We have played all our cricket together here at Mumbai and it feels amazing that the last three T20 captains of India have all come from Mumbai," Suryakumar Yadav said on Saturday.

🚨 Suryakumar Yadav congratulated Shreyas Iyer on becoming India's new T20I skipper.Looks at the eyes of Suryakumar Yadav, hoping he will shine in IPL Mumbai Indians should appoint him as skipper

Shreyas Iyer replaces Suryakumar Yadav as T20I skipper

Interestingly, Shreyas hasn't played a T20I for India since December 2023. It was during the five-match T20I series against Australia immediately after the ODI World Cup. Shreyas has played 51 T20Is, scoring 1104 runs at an average of 30.67 and a strike rate of 136.13. He has earned a recall and also the role of captaincy after his exemplary performances as a captain and a batter in the last two seasons of the IPL.