The selectors on Saturday (June 6, 2026) officially announced that Shreyas Iyer will be captain of the T20 international side.
Shreyas Iyer replaces Suryakumar Yadav, who has won the T20 World Cup, as the captain.
Middle-order batter Tilak Varma will be Shreyas’ deputy, while pacer Prince Yadav, who had an impressive season for Lucknow Super Giants, was drafted for the series against England and Ireland.
At 15 years and 71 days old, Sooryavanshi becomes the youngest ever player to feature in an Indian cricket team, surpassing the long-standing record held by the great Sachin Tendulkar.
Tendulkar was 16 years and 205 days when he made his Test debut against Pakistan at Karachi on November 15, 1989.
India will travel to Ireland for two T20Is (June 26 and 28), followed by a five-match T20I series against England between July 1 and 11.
Shreyas has returned to the national T20 side for the first time after a match against Australia in Bengaluru on December 3, 2023.
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for England and Ireland tours to enable him to feature in the Asian Games 2026.
Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar said that Yashasvi Jaiswal has replaced injured Virat Kohli in the ODI squad against Afghanistan.
On Thilak Verma’s appointment as vice-captain, Agarkar said “Tilak can learn more about the job of leading a side while being the deputy to Shreyas, a clear indication of his growth in the white ball format as a key member.”
Agarkar said “Sooryavanshi has picked himself through his performances with so much talent around in T20 cricket.”
While asked on Sooryavanshi inclusion in the Test squad, Agarkar said “Regarding red-ball cricket, why jump the gun? We are excited with what Sooryavanshi is doing. Right now, let him be in T20 cricket.”
On Hardik Pandya, Agarkar said “Main objective is to see if Hardik (Pandya) can play ODI cricket and be fit as there is also an ODI World Cup ahead.”
Wicket-keeper batter Dhruv Jurel will lead India in the two multi-day matches against Sri Lanka.
Devdutt Padikkal will be the vice-captain, and Ruturaj Gaikwad too found a place in the squad.
India squad for Ireland and England T20 series
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, Mohammad Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
India squad for Asian Games
Shreyas Iyer (c), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (VC), Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah and Vaibhav Sooryavnshi.
India squad for multi day matches in Sri Lanka
Dhruv Jurel (c and wk), Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal (vc), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Harsh, Saransh, Gurnoor Brar, Auqib Nabi, Yash Thakur, N Jagadeesan, Aman Mokade, Sheikh Rashid and Ansari.
(With inputs from PTI)
Published – June 06, 2026 01:23 pm IST
