The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has reportedly decided to move on from Suryakumar Yadav. It had been expected for some time because the current Indian T20I captain, who took over from Rohit Sharma after the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, was not performing well with the bat. Yes, Suryakumar has led India to the iconic T20 World Cup 2026 win, but with him being past his batting prime, the BCCI has set sights on Shreyas Iyer as his successor.
According to the The Times of India, the BCCI wants to remove Suryakumar Yadav as India’s T20I captain. This would allow the team management to stop backing him despite his poor batting form. Meanwhile, Shreyas has been breathing down Suryakumar’s neck for some time now. Everyone knew that it was going to happen. The Indian management seemed to have pencilled in their wish to see a new leader going ahead in the road to the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2028 and LA Olympics that follows later that year. The plan was always there. With T20 World Cups coming every two years, the planning these days is done for a two-year period cycle.
BCCI Eyes Shreyas Iyer as Suryakumar Yadav’s T20I Captaincy Successor
After India’s semi-final exit in 2022, Rohit Sharma knew he had at least two more years in him so he led the team for the 2024 tournament before hanging up his boots in Barbados. Then, India chose Suryakumar over a prime candidate like Hardik Pandya. It was done after taking recommendations from Rohit, former head coach Rahul Dravid and Gautam Gambhir. The duo of Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar worked brilliantly for the goal (the T20 World Cup 2026) and deservedly won the silverware.
The hard work put in by the team management helped India become one of the strongest T20I teams in history. However, Suryakumar Yadav the captain could not match the success of Suryakumar Yadav the batter. Even though he remained India’s T20I captain, SKY continued to score quickly with a strike rate of around 170 in international cricket. From his debut in 2021 until around 2024, he was considered one of the best T20 batters India has ever produced.