Shreyas named new T20I captain; Sooryavanshi handed maiden call-up

Shreyas Iyer, as expected, has made a grand return to the Indian T20I squad as the new skipper. Announcing the squads for the tours of Ireland and England tour, the selectors also confirmed the inclusion of teen sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. Tilak Varma, one of the contenders for captaincy alongside Ishan Kishan, has been named the new vice-captain. The squads also see the return of Harshit Rana, whose last competitive appearance came at the start of February this year.

As revealed by Cricbuzz earlier, Iyer was the favourite to take over from Suryakumar Yadav after the decision was made to move on from India's T20 World Cup-winning skipper due to his poor run of form. Not only was Suryakumar struggling to make an impact with the bat for India in recent times, his IPL returns in 2026 were also underwhelming.

Squads for Ireland and England series: Shreyas Iyer (C), Tilak Varma (VC), Ravi Bishnoi, Abhishek Sharma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Sanju Samson, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Ishan Kishan, Washington Sundar, Arshdeep Singh, Shivam Dube, Varun Chakaravarthy, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi

On the other hand, even though Iyer's most recent T20I appearance for India came in December 2023, his stocks since then has been on the rise. He led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title in 2024 and then Punjab Kings to a final in 2025, going on to receive rich praise as a leader over the last three seasons. His fortunes with the bat have also improved in the IPL in this period where India won back-to-back T20 World Cup titles. In 2025, he made over 600 runs in a season for the first time in his IPL career and followed it up with 498 runs in the recently-concluded season, which also featured his maiden ton in his last match.

Sooryavanshi's meteoric rise over the last 12 months has culminated in him fetching a spot despite being just 15 years old. In IPL 2026, Sooryavanshi put on a stunning show and broke several records en route to sweeping the awards. Having scored 776 runs at a breathtaking strike rate of 237.31, that included a tournament record of 72 sixes, Sooryavanshi won the Orange cap and bagged both the Emerging Player award and the MVP award.

India will be boosted by the return of Harshit whose presence also bolsters the lower order with the bat. Harshit had nailed his spot in India's limited-overs setup in the lead up to the 2026 T20 World Cup but a knee strain before the tournament resulted in him getting sidelined for a prolonged period following surgery. Rana was also a massive miss for KKR in the IPL as they failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Ravi Bishnoi has been chosen over Kuldeep Yadav, who was part of the squad that lifted the World Cup trophy in March. While most of the players from that title-winning setup have retained their spots, Rinku Singh has been displaced by Sooryavanshi. The selectors have opted to rest Jasprit Bumrah, with Prince Yadav replacing him. It's worth noting that Yadav has also been picked for the upcoming ODIs against Afghanistan at home. Hardik Pandya, who is on his road to recovery and has been included for the ODIs against Afghanistan, has been left out of the T20 squads in favour of Nitish Kumar Reddy.

India will first fly to Ireland to play a couple of T20Is in Belfast - on June 26 and 28. Following the completion of the series, they will travel to England to play five T20Is. The series opener will be played on July 1 in Chester-le-Street with the final match scheduled in Southampton on July 11.