Shreyas Iyer’s return to the international 20-over set-up has been a mixed bag. Along the way, Shreyas served notice of not just his exceptional batting skills in the middle-order but also a shrewd, calm and astute brain which, allied with his excellent man-management skills, helped him get the best out of his colleagues, India and international, at both outfits. Jettisoned into the wilderness for more than two and a half years from December 2023 and therefore missing out on India’s back-to-back World Cup triumphs, the right-hander kept plugging away, first leading Kolkata Knight Riders to the title in 2024 and then taking Punjab Kings to the IPL final the following year.
A day later, Ravindra Jadeja called time on his career too, which meant in one fell swoop, India lost a lot of experience and expertise. It’s debatable if Shreyas had reconciled to more time on the T20I sidelines when Suryakumar Yadav skippered the country to a fabulous title defence at home this February-March. Within hours of that grand conquest of the Proteas in Bridgetown, Rohit followed Virat Kohli into T20I retirement.
Suryakumar, like Shreyas also from Mumbai, was handpicked to succeed Rohit Sharma in July 2024 as India moved on to a new era in the 20-over format. Having run a fantastic ship at the home 50-over World Cup in October-November 2023 when India scythed unbeaten through the draw, only to be felled by Australia in the final, Rohit found a little bit of consolation and worthwhile silverware for his commitment to aggressive batting and to his wonderful captaincy skills by helping India lift their second T20 World Cup trophy, nearly 17 years after Mahendra Singh Dhoni had done the unthinkable in the inaugural edition in South Africa. The process of rebuilding for the title defence, still 20 months away, began in earnest immediately. Suryakumar made an immediate impact as batter and captain, leading India to a 3-0 sweep in Sri Lanka in his first assignment in July 2024. But while India continued to stack up victories and dominate the T20I landscape, the dashing batter’s willow started to grow cold from the beginning of 2025. He went the entire calendar year without a single half-century, an unbeaten 47 against Pakistan in the first of three consecutive showdowns in the Asia Cup in Dubai, his highest score in 19 innings. The unbeaten charge to the Asia Cup crown was another feather in his captaincy cap, and when Suryakumar broke the dry run with scores of 32, 82 not out, 57 not out, 8 and 63 against New Zealand in January to kick off 2026, normal service seemed to have been restored.
Because question marks continued to hang over the all-rounder’s sustained availability, given his repeated dalliances with injury, contrary to popular perception that pointed to Rohit’s World Cup deputy, Hardik Pandya, taking over as the leader, the decision-making group of chief selector Ajit Agarkar and new head coach Gautam Gambhir – Rahul Dravid’s extension ended with the World Cup success – plumped for Suryakumar, mainly. Because his middling form wasn’t doing any significant or tangible damage to the team’s fortunes, he was, however, in no danger of losing his place.
His best knock in a year and a quarter came in India’s World Cup opener against United States, at his home ground, the Wankhede Stadium. The foreboding sound of silence was deafening as the unfancied Americans worked their way through the Indian top-order with Shadley van Schalkwyk doing the bulk of the damage. At 77 for six in the 13th over, a seismic upset of monumental proportions loomed until the captain came charging to the rescue. Shepherding the lower-order expertly and choosing the right moments – and bowlers – to attack, Suryakumar remained unconquered on a crucial 84, off just 49 deliveries, to catalyse what in the end became a routine 29-run victory.
Never mind that he had 150 international appearances across all three formats to his credit, the return to the 20-over iteration was inevitably and understandably accompanied by butterflies and nervous anticipation. India were stunned 2-0 by Ireland and then surrendered a five-match series 4-0 in England (the first game was abandoned). Shreyas held his own with the bat – 68, 37, 5, 80 not out and 28 against the English – but he needed to start moving into the black column from the predominantly red one when it came to team victories. They were caught out by the conditions in the United Kingdom and were slow to react and adapt, but once they travelled to Harare in July for a three-match showdown against Zimbabwe, they have embarked on a stunning course correction that has netted them 10 wins on the bounce, among them Tuesday’s eight-wicket pounding of West Indies in the first of five matches in Lucknow.
Because india were too good a team to keep courting defeats, the tide had to turn,. Shreyas must have felt the weight of the world on his shoulders on his comeback. His baptism was the stuff nightmares are made of. Shreyas thus became the second Indian after Ruturaj Gaikwad to lead the cricket team to the Asiad gold, though he had the luxury of a full-strength side including Jasprit Bumrah, the perennial game-changer. While those nine victories in a row were commendable, Shreyas the batter hadn’t really left a lasting impression. He did have a clutch of 20s – five of them, to be exact – but there wasn’t the defining knock that he would have been desperate for.