Since taking over the T20I reins, Shreyas Iyer hasn’t had a great time. In June, BCCI removed Suryakumar Yadav as T20I skipper and chose Iyer as his successor. Even though India were winning consistently under Yadav, he had lost his Midas touch as a batter.
Iyer, on the other hand, was doing very well in the Indian Premier League both as a batter and captain. Under him, Punjab Kings reached the final in 2025, their first time in 14 years. Last season PBKS started well, winning six out of their seven games (one was a washout) before losing steam and failing to qualify for the play-offs.
But four months into his role as India T20I skipper, Iyer is yet to make a mark, both as batter and captain. Under him, world champions India lost two T20Is against Ireland. Days later, England defeated India 4-0 at home. India returned without winning a single T20I on their tour of the UK.
Thereafter, Iyer captained India in nine successive T20I wins — three against Zimbabwe, three against Afghanistan, one against Japan, and two in the Asian Games against Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
The five-match T20I series against the West Indies ended on Saturday in a 2-2 draw after the last game was washed out. West Indies were never going to be pushovers in the shortest format and fought India tooth and nail.
{{/usCountry}}The five-match T20I series against the West Indies ended on Saturday in a 2-2 draw after the last game was washed out. West Indies were never going to be pushovers in the shortest format and fought India tooth and nail.
{{/usCountry}}Iyer started well and scored his first T20I century to guide India to an easy win in the first game in Lucknow. It appeared the Mumbaikar had finally got his bearings, and before long, India would be back at their invincible best. But the West Indies stunned Iyer and India by winning two out of the next three games, and in one of the matches, even chased down 250, and in another scored 247 after being put into bat.
In his 21 T20Is since June, Iyer has scored 590 runs at an average of around 35 and at a strike rate of 152.45.
Out of the 21 games that saw two no-results, he led India to 11 wins and 8 losses, a win percentage of 52.38. Before him, India’s full-time captains in the format were MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Yadav.
Kohli, who never won any ICC trophy, had a win percentage of 60 after taking over from Dhoni (56.94), and Pandya, in his 16 games as India captain, had a win percentage of 62.5. Sharma, captain of the team that won the 2024 T20 World Cup, tops at 79.03 ahead of Yadav (76.92), captain of the 2026 T20 World Cup-winning team.
Iyer’s numbers particularly stand out when one considers the teams India have played under him.
Even though this is not the T20 World Cup cycle, the upcoming five-game series against New Zealand starting October 22 at Christchurch gains significance.
New Zealand are one of the top teams in the world, and a good result against them will add to Iyer's credibility.