Shreyas: The detached leader T20 setup needs
Perhaps no other cricketer has gone through so much turbulence and transformation between December 3, 2023, and June 6, 2026, as Shreyas Iyer, who took over the reins of India’s T20 team from Suryakumar Yadav on Saturday.
Shreyas’ is an extraordinary story, as it’s tough for an Indian cricketer to survive a 30-month hiatus, particularly in the shortest format where talents are jostling for a space, and make a comeback, let alone as captain.
So, what has the 31-year-old done in that interim to impress the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel and head coach Gautam Gambhir?
It has to be his single-minded dedication to claw back from setbacks and create an upward-moving career curve.
Shreyas was looking at a bleak future after losing his BCCI central contract, along with Jharkhand’s Ishan Kishan, in February 2024 for skipping domestic matches for Mumbai that season.
It took him nearly a year to earn the contract back, and also had to go through rejections from India squads for major events like the T20 World Cup (2024, 2026) and Asia Cup (2025).
But he never sulked or vented his frustration through social media, rather focused on working on his batting and recovery from certain injuries that forced him to seek a break from red-ball cricket last year.
Ties with Gambhir: The first sign of his revival came when he led Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title in 2024, working alongside team mentor Gambhir.
It might also have given the former India opener a chance to take a closer look at Shreyas’ mindset and thinking.
Even before that, it was Gambhir who recommended Shreyas as his successor when he stepped down from Delhi Capitals’ (then Daredevils) captaincy mid-way through the IPL 2018.
So, the social media speculations about his muted relationship with Shreyas could remain just that.
But in the last two years, the Mumbai man too has matured a lot as an individual and as a cricketer, and now he would certainly know how to set aside his personal choices for the larger good of the team.
