Shreyas Iyer, the Punjab Kings captain, is the toast of the town owing to his individual performance and the winning run of his team in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 edition. The franchise is yet to lose a single game in the 19th edition of the T20 tournament, and PBKS have emerged as one of the most complete sides in the competition. Looking at how Shreyas has been going about his business, everyone is asking why exactly the right-hander cannot break into the India T20I setup.
Shreyas scored more than 600 runs in the IPL 2025 season, leading PBKS to the final and before this, he won the tournament with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). However, all these facts weren’t enough for Shreyas to make a return to India’s T20I playing XI, and he missed out on the T20 World Cup squad.
With Shreyas’ golden run now coinciding with Suryakumar Yadav’s barren run, chatter has begun about a succession plan, with the former being made the next India captain. However, former India pacer Zaheer Khan has advised the 31-year-old Shreyas to focus on leaving a lasting impression with the bat and make a comeback to the Indian team first, rather than thinking about the captaincy factor.
“First, being part of the T20 setup will be on his mind. Captaincy, I am not sure if he is thinking about that right now. He can be a contender in due course because he has been captaining franchises for a while now and has been successful. So, he clearly has that mindset,” Zaheer said on Cricbuzz.
“When you are looking at the Indian T20 setup, I think he must be thinking first and foremost of making an impact with his performances as just a player to secure a spot. Once you are in the squad, then the rest of the things are up to how the team management is looking at things,” he added.
How has Shreyas performed in IPL 2026?
In the six matches Shreyas has played so far in IPL 2026, he has scored 208 runs at an average of 52 and a strike rate of 180+. Iyer’s personal form has gone a long way toward Punjab Kings’ continued stay at the top of the points table. The franchise has 11 points in six matches.
Punjab Kings will next take on the Delhi Capitals on Saturday at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.