The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced India’s squads for the T20I series against Ireland and England on June 6. The board also selected a 16-member team for the Asian Games in Japan. Shreyas Iyer was named the new captain for India in T20Is, replacing the ICC World T20 winning captain Suryakumar Yadav. Tilak Varma was appointed his deputy in the format.
Some notable selections include Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Prince Yadav. Harshit Rana has also returned to the Indian team after recovering from injury. Regular T20I players like Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube, and Arshdeep Singh have retained their places in the squad. Suryakumar Yadav has not just lost his captaincy though, he has also exhausted his chances in the team as a batsman.
Will Suryakumar Yadav Retire After T20I Snub? No Official Word Yet
Suryakumar Yadav played in the recently concluded IPL 2026, but had a disappointing season by his standards. He scored just 270 runs in 13 innings at an average of 20, struggling to make a significant impact with the bat. Suryakumar contributed with 242 runs in 8 innings in the T20 World Cup 2026 campaign. He averaged over 40, however, most of the runs came against teams like USA, Netherlands and Zimbabwe. He failed to contribute in the semi-final and the final too.
For India, Suryakumar Yadav made his T20I debut in 2021 at the age of 30 and has since become the third-highest run-scorer in the format. He has scored 3,272 runs in 113 T20I matches at an average of 36 and a strike rate of over 160. When the BCCI chief selector was asked about the exclusion of Suryakumar Yadav from the team, he said that it is tough for a player of his stature; but ultimately all the calls are made in the best interest of the Indian team.
While there are no official confirmations regarding Surya announcing his retirement from the format, however, the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 seems to be the last time he was seen representing the Men in Blue. With his dipping form and the pool of players in queue, it is very unlikely that he will find a spot in the squad again. The Mumbai Indians batter is currently seen playing in the Mumbai T20 League, where he is captaining Triumph Knights MNE. On the day of announcement of the new captain of India, Suryakumar scored 48 off 24 deliveries in the same league.
Surya congratulated Shreyas Iyer for the new role, saying “Very happy for Shreyas Iyer. We played a lot of cricket for Mumbai and India together. Most importantly 3 back to back T20i captains for India from Mumbai now and it it very proud moment for all of us at Mumbai cricket and everyone needs to celebrate that.”