A former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batting legend has been left “surprised” with the axing of Suryakumar Yadav as India’s T20I captain despite leading the side to the trophy in March.
On Saturday, Ajit Agarkar, the BCCI chief selector, announced that Shreyas Iyer has been appointed as the new T20I skipper, while Suryakumar, who captained India to a successful T20 World Cup title defence at home, has been sacked and also dropped from the T20I setup as the BCCI revealed squads for the T20I series in Ireland in June, in England in July, and the Asian Games in September in Japan.
SKY’s form has been on the downturn since 2025. He had a disappointing T20 World Cup 2026 with the bat and an even poorer IPL 2026 for Mumbai Indians.
With Suryakumar already 35 and dismally out of form, and India brimming with a glut of talent, the decision to drop SKY is totally justified, though it’s a very bold and unprecedented move in Indian cricket.
Surprised that Suryakumar Yadav is dropped immediately, same thing happened to Rohit Sharma: S Badrinath
Former CSK batsman Subramaniam Badrinath has shared his strong opinion on this big change in the T20I Indian cricket team.
Pointing at the ruthlessness and bold decisiveness of the selection committee, Badrinath made an interesting observation by recalling how Rohit Sharma was also removed as the ODI captain last year despite captaining the team to the title in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Rohit, then 38 years old, was replaced by the younger Shubman Gill.
Badrinath opined that while he agreed with Iyer’s appointment as the captain, he was surprised by Suryakumar’s dropping immediately after captaining in a victorious T20 World Cup campaign.
In his YouTube video on his channel, Cric with Badri, S Badrinath said, “It’s definitely the end of the road for Suryakumar Yadav. We won’t see him in international cricket anymore. His winning percentage as a T20I captain is extremely high. Yet, these selectors have easily thrown him out. The same thing happened to Rohit Sharma after winning the Champions Trophy. There is a certain ruthlessness in the current team management.”
“I agree with the decision to appoint Shreyas Iyer as captain, as he has been a superb leader in the IPL. But I was surprised as a World Cup-winning captain, who hasn’t announced any retirement, has been immediately dropped because his batting performance has been poor.”
When is India’s next T20I series?
India will tour the UK for seven T20Is. Iyer’s first assignment as India’s newly minted T20I skipper will be the two-match T20I series in Ireland on June 26 and 28, and then the five-T20I rubber against England from July 1. The Asian Games, which will be in the T20 format, are scheduled to kick off on September 19.
Get the Latest Cricket Updates at IceCric.News. Also, Follow Our Social Media for live updates on Facebook and Instagram.
