'He has got the experience' - Aakash Chopra picks his choice as Suryakumar Yadav's potential replacement as India's T20I captain

Former India batter Aakash Chopra has named Shreyas Iyer as a potential successor to Suryakumar Yadav as India's next T20I captain. This comes after reports circulating that the 2026 T20 World Cup-winning captain has been removed from his position as the skipper, with his place in the side as a batter also in jeopardy.

Despite guiding the Men in Blue to the title, Suryakumar's form with the bat has attracted a lot of criticism. A poor showing in the Indian Premier League, where he scored 270 at an average of just 20.76, also did not help his cause.

Chopra believes that Shreyas is the ideal replacement for Suryakumar as the T20I captain. The 31-year-old is also an adequate middle-order batter in the shortest format of the game. The former player-turned-expert also wants the Indian management to get Royal Challengers Bengaluru's two-time Indian Premier League-winning captain Rajat Patidar into the setup. The 33-year-old scored 501 runs in the 2026 season at a strike-rate of 192.69.

According to Chopra, Shreyas' pedigree as an IPL captain is too good to be overlooked. He has taken both the Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings to the finals and also guided the Kolkata Knight Riders to the title in 2024. He has also upped his T20 game, having scored 1,102 runs at a strike-rate of 172.19 in the last two seasons for the Punjab-based franchise.

"He has performed incredibly in white-ball cricket. He is very, very good. He is the only player in the world to score more than 500 runs in a World Cup while batting at No. 4. So he is a performer. He is an absolute game-changer in white-ball cricket, and he captains very well. He has done that with three different franchises. The proof of the pudding is in the eating," Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

3 players who can replace Suryakumar as India's T20I captain

It is worth mentioning that Shreyas has previously represented India 51 times in T20Is, where he scored 1,104 runs at a strike-rate of just 136.12.

The right-handed batter has not played for the Men in Blue in the shortest format of the game since playing against Australia in 2023. He scored a 37-ball 53 in his last international T20 at the Chinnnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.