Indian men’s selection committee has recalled and appointed Shreyas Iyer as the new captain of their T20I cricket team for the upcoming tour of Ireland and England. Iyer takes over from Suryakumar Yadav who, months after captaining India to a T20 World Cup title win at home, has also been dropped from the squad.
In another significant development, following a bumper IPL 2026, teenage batting prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has been given a maiden call-up.
Tilak Varma has been named as the new vice-captain.
Right-arm pacer Prince Yadav has also been given a maiden T20I call-up, having earlier been picked in the ODI squad for the Afghanistan series.
Allrounder Hardik Pandya, who had missed a few games in IPL 2026 due to back spasm, hasn’t been picked either.
India are slated to play two T20Is in Ireland followed by a five-match series against England.
Iyer last played a T20I for India in December 2023 but was part of the home series against New Zealand earlier this year where he kept warming the benches and didn’t make the cut in the World Cup squad.
Consistent performances in domestic cricket and in the IPL for various franchises – both as batter and captain – have propelled him back into contention with selectors handing over the reins to the top-order batter.
India’s T20I Squad For England & Ireland Tours: Shreyas Iyer (captain), Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Sanju Samson (wk), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Ravi Bishnoi
Mohammed Siraj, who was roped in as a last-minute replacement for Harshit Rana ahead of the T20 World Cup, has retained his place following an impressive IPL. Rana, who suffered a knee injury during a World Cup warm-up clash, is fit and has been included as well.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi has been included while Kuldeep Yadav and Rinku Singh have been dropped.
