Shreyas Iyer’s tenure as India’s T20I captain began with genuine turbulence, but the past two months have told a very different story.
A rocky start
Iyer took over from Suryakumar Yadav in June, tasked with building towards the 2028 T20 World Cup cycle despite not having played a T20I for India since December 2023. His first assignment as captain, a two-match series in Ireland, ended in a 2-0 defeat, and India also lost their following series 4-0 to England, despite Iyer himself scoring 218 runs across that series.
The turnaround
India’s fortunes have shifted sharply since. Under Iyer, India whitewashed Afghanistan 3-0 in the recently concluded series in Delhi, sealed by Abhishek Sharma’s record-breaking century in the final match. That victory came on the back of a similar sweep earlier in the year, meaning all four T20I series Iyer has captained have ended in whitewashes – two losing, two winning.
Iyer’s own form
With the bat, Iyer has been a solid if unspectacular contributor during the Afghanistan series, dismissed twice by Afghanistan spinner Rashid Khan for low scores, but his captaincy has drawn praise for its calm man-management, including his post-match comments backing Ishan Kishan’s form and defending tactical decisions around bowling changes.
Iyer brings proven leadership credentials to the role, having led Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title in 2024 and Punjab Kings to the final in 2025. Whether that franchise pedigree translates into long-term international success will depend on results against stronger opposition than Afghanistan and Ireland – a test that awaits later in the T20I calendar.
For now, the results speak for themselves: after a bruising start, Iyer has steadied the ship, and a settled top order gives him license to keep experimenting with combinations before India face tougher assignments later in the calendar.