‘Very happy for Shreyas Iyer’: Suryakumar Yadav reacts after losing Indian captaincy

Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav of India (PTI Photo) Suryakumar Yadav gracefully reacted to the big changes in India’s T20I set-up and expressed his happiness for Shreyas Iyer after Shreyas Iyer was named as the new captain for the upcoming Ireland-England series.The development marks a significant shift for Indian cricket with Shreyas replacing Suryakumar as the T20I captain. The Mumbai batsman also lost his place in the squad despite leading India to the T20 World Cup 2026 title earlier this year.During the Mumbai T20 League draw, Suryakumar chose to focus on celebrating his long-time teammate’s success.“Very happy for Shreyas Iyer. We played a lot of cricket together for Mumbai and India. The most important thing now is 3 T20i captains for India from Mumbai and it’s a very proud moment for all of us in Mumbai cricket and everyone has to celebrate.”Suryakumar’s response comes shortly after chief selector Ajit Agarkar explained the reasons behind the decision to go in a new direction.“For Surya, it’s obviously tough because he’s just won the (T20) World Cup. But as happens after most World Cups, we try to reassess what’s your best way forward,” Agarkar said.“It was (due) partly to his own form but also looking at another two-year cycle or a little over two years to the next World Cup we thought that was the best way forward and as I said, Shreyas is a very deserving captain.”“We thought about it a lot, especially when someone has led you to a World Cup win. It’s not the easiest kind of discussion, but I don’t think … at some stage we wanted to look at it. Now if IPL form dictated it; I’m not so sure it did. There have always been conversations around it.”The decision follows a difficult period for Suryakumar. Since becoming India’s full-time T20 captain in July 2024, his batting numbers have dropped considerably. His average dropped from 43.60 to 25.88 while his strike rate dropped from 168.75 to 152.03.Despite the disappointment of losing both the captaincy and his place in the side, Suryakumar’s public reaction reflected support for his Mumbai teammate, who now begins a new chapter as India’s T20I captain.