Suryakumar Yadav reportedly axed as India's T20I captain; Three stars in running to replace World Cup-winning skipper
Under Suryakumar Yadav, India lifted their third T20 World Cup title earlier in 2026. But despite that, Suryakumar's form with the bat played a big role in his axing from leadership.
Captaincy was not a problem. Rather Suryakumar Yadav's dip in form with the bat for the past couple of years impacted big as the Mumbai Indians batter is set to be stripped of the captaincy just three months after leading India to their third T20 World Cup title.
According to an Indian Express report, the BCCI has finalised to not go with Suryakumar as India's T20I captain and is also set to lose his spot in the squad. “The selection committee, BCCI and team management, in consultation with coach Gautam Gambhir, have decided that India should go with a new skipper from here on," the website quoted a BCCI source.
"Under Surya’s captaincy, the team did win the T20 World Cup but keeping his form and future in mind, they felt it’s time to move on,” the official added. The development comes in just before India's tours of England and Ireland.
With the T20 World Cup and Los Angeles Olympics coming in 2028, the BCCI is exploring a few options with a long run in mind.
Three contenders emerge to succeed Suryakymar
Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer and Tilak Varma are in BCCI selector's mind. While Tilak has been named as India A skipper for the tri-nation series involving Sri Lanka A and Afghanistan A, Kishan and Iyer are mostly likely to be preferred.
For Kishan, the Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter recently led his state team to first-ever Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Tournament earlier this year. He also won four out of Sunrisers Hyderabad's first seven matches in the Indian Premier League (IPL) recently, before Pat Cummins took over after injury layoff.
With age at both Tilak (23) and Kishan's (27) side, the duo would be perfect as per BCCI's long term plans. It must be noted that both Tilak and Kishan played a huge part in India's T20 World Cup 2026-winning campaign.
What makes Shreyas Iyer the frontrunner?
On the other hand, Shreyas' name has been doing the round for a long time. The 31-year-old has galvanised Punjab Kings ever since he came on board in IPL 2025. Notably, Iyer's captaincy track record goes beyond IPL 2025. His first stint at a captain at the top level came with Delhi Capitals when he took over from Gambhir in the middle of IPL 2018.
The Mumbaikar transformed Delhi Capitals' fortuned in 2019, leading them to playoffs and a runners-up finish the following year. Post his stint with Delhi Capitals, Iyer joined Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2022. Although KKR couldn't do much in that season, and missed their captain in 2023 due to injury, the Iyer and then-KKR head coach Gautam Gambhir combination helped the Shahrukh Khan co-owned franchise to a third IPL title, beating Sunrisers Hyderabad in a one-sided final.
At Punjab Kings, Iyer led them to runners-up finish in IPL 2025. However, things moved in the right direction in IPL 2026 when Punjab Kings were unbeaten in their first seven games. However, a six-match winless streak left Punjab Kings out of the playoffs contention. With Gambhir as the head coach, there is a high possibility that Iyer could succeed Suryakumar.