Big News: India's new T20I captain to be appointed on this date, selectors to announce squads for Ireland-England tours

Shreyas Iyer is poised to make a major return to India’s T20I setup, with the added probability of leading the team in the shortest format. Ajit Agarkar-led senior national selection committee, is scheduled to meet on June 6 in Mumbai to finalise the squads for two crucial upcoming assignments, the T20I series in Ireland, a subsequent limited-overs tour of England.

India's squads for England and Ireland tours to be announced on June 6

The high-profile meeting at the BCCI's headquarter in Mumbai are expected to come up with other major announcements besides Iyer. All the suspense around Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's availability for the ODI series against England will also come to an end. While Kohli has already been ruled out of the ODI series against Afghanistan due to injury, Rohit's participation is yet to get a final not as the veteran batter has been asked to report to CoE for fitness assessment. The selection committee will clear the picture around the duo participation in the England tour. Kohli's replacement for the Afghanistan ODIs will also be announced in the meeting.

Shreyas Iyer to be appointed India's new T20I captain

Coming back to Iyer, who last played a T20I in December 2023, in all likelihood is set to replace Suryakumar Yadav both in the squad and as India's T20I captain. Despite leading India to a successful T20 World Cup title defense earlier this year, Suryakumar is set to lose his place entirely following a prolonged lean patch with the bat.

Iyer's leadership credentials have strengthened his case for the top job, highlighted by his success in captaining the Kolkata Knight Riders to the IPL title in 2024 and guiding the Punjab Kings to the final in 2025. While other names like Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, and Tilak Varma were discussed for the leadership role, the 31-year-old Iyer has emerged as the frontrunner.

In an interesting turn of events, some of the team's other established leaders have seemingly been left out of the captaincy conversation. Hardik Pandya—who was replaced by Suryakumar at the start of the previous T20 World Cup cycle—and Axar Patel, the vice-captain of the recent World Cup-winning campaign, have reportedly not featured prominently in the selectors' discussions so far.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi expected to get India call-up

Aside from the prominent discussion surrounding the team's captaincy, teenage prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has taken center stage as a major point of interest for the national selectors. The main dilemma for the committee is deciding whether to fast-track the 15-year-old straight into the senior T20I lineup or opt for a steadier approach by giving him his first taste of international cricket during a less demanding tour of Zimbabwe this July.

The young batsman is already very much in the national picture, having secured a spot on the 30-man shortlist of probables for the Asian Games. His potential inclusion comes at a time when India faces a jam-packed schedule, beginning with two T20Is in Ireland in late June, followed immediately by a full-fledged white-ball tour of England featuring five T20Is and three ODIs through most of July. Managing the player pool will require careful planning, especially since the cricket event at the Asian Games in September and October clashes directly with India's home ODI series against the West Indies.