'Challenges ahead': Suryakumar Yadav breaks silence after India snub as Shreyas Iyer named T20I captain

Suryakumar Yadav wished the Indian team well after losing the T20I captaincy, sharing a message of support on Instagram following the announcement of India’s squads for the Ireland and England tours.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Saturday named Shreyas Iyer as India’s new T20I captain, replacing Suryakumar Yadav. Soon after the announcement, Suryakumar posted an Instagram story backing the team.

“Wishing this highly skilled group all the best for challenges ahead,” Surya posted on his Instagram story.

The squad announcement also marked a major moment in Indian cricket as 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi earned his maiden India call-up. At 15 years and 71 days old, he became the youngest player ever selected in an Indian cricket team, going past the record held by Sachin Tendulkar.

Tendulkar was 16 years and 205 days old when he made his Test debut against Pakistan in Karachi on November 15, 1989.

India will first tour Ireland for two T20Is on June 26 and 28 before playing a five-match T20I series against England from July 1 to 11.

Shreyas returned to India’s T20I side for the first time since the match against Australia in Bengaluru on December 3, 2023.

“We have got a bit more time for the next WC, and his (Shreyas) performances as captain having won (the IPL) with KKR and a couple of good seasons with PBKS. He was very close to always being there in the team but could not find the spot,” chief selector Ajit Agarkar told reporters after announcing the squads.

Agarkar said Suryakumar’s form over the last two seasons influenced the decision to make a change in leadership. As a result, Suryakumar lost both the T20I captaincy and his place in the squad.

Squads:

For Ireland and England T20 tours: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vc), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

For Asian Games: Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vc), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.

For multi-day matches in Sri Lanka: Dhruv Jurel (c&wk), Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal (vc), Ayush Pandey, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh Dube, Saransh Jain, Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi, Yash Thakur, N Jagadeesan (wk), Aman Mokhade, Shaik Rashid, Zeeshan Ansari.