The transition in the Indian T20I squad hasn’t been smooth. T20 World Cup 2026-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav’s successor, Shreyas Iyer, is yet to register a win since taking over the reins. As India are all set to take on Zimbabwe in the three-T20I serie sin Harare starting July 23, Iyer has a message for his teammates. He does not want the players to fear failure on Zimbabwe tour as it leads to mindset where players tend to play to save themselves. He wants them to shun the outside noise and stay in the moment to perform better as a group.
"I don't think they should fear failure because when you have such thoughts at the back of your mind, then you play to save yourself. When you don't have that fear, you can get the best out of yourself," Iyer said on the eve of first T20I against Zimbabwe.
"We don't have to think much about what people are saying outside. We have to stay in the present. The more we play good cricket and play together as a unit, the better it will be for the team.”
Despite the defeats on UK tour, Iyer chooses to look at the positives that came out. Going into the T20I series against Zimbabwe, he wants the team to adapt quickly to get better results. He expects a challenge from the Zimbabwe side and revealed that the defeats have brought the players closer to each other. The team has had a challenging run so far and intends to overcome it.
Iyer has also backed 15-year-old opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi who did not get the desired start to his T20I career. The 31-year-old does not have much advice to give to the youngster. He expects that the southpaw has taken steps to rectify what went wrong in the T20I series against England. The opener was dismissed stumped on his T20I debut and then short balls from Jofra Archer got the better of him.
Iyer yet to play vs Zimbabwe
This will be the first time Iyer plays a T20I against Zimbabwe. Nost just in the shortest format, he hasn't faced Zimbabwe in ODIs as well. The last time India played a T20I series against Zimbabwe was in 2024, right after the T20 World Cup 2024 triumph on Caribbean soil. A second-string Shubman Gill-led side beat Zimbabwe 4-1. Iyer wasn't in the scheme of things for T20Is then.