India fire Suryakumar as T20 captain, name young Sooryavanshi in squad

ISLAMABAD: India named Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in their T20 squad on Saturday, handing the 15-year-old sensation his maiden international call-up after a string of breathtaking performances in the domestic league, AFP reported.

Selectors also fired Suryakumar Yadav as captain, replacing him with Shreyas Iyer for two internationals in Ireland, five matches in England and the Asian Games.

Apart from Shreyas and Sooryavanshi, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravi Bishnoi, and Prince Yadav have also made the cut. Meanwhile, Rinku Singh and Kuldeep Yadav have been dropped from the side that lifted the T20 World Cup, while Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah have been rested.

This marks India's first T20I assignment since Suryakumar Yadav guided them to a successful defence of the T20 World Cup title in March. However, the 35-year-old's future in the shortest format is now under scrutiny. 

He will be 38 by the time the next T20 World Cup arrives in 2028, and his recent form has done little to silence the doubters — a modest 2026 World Cup campaign yielding 242 runs in nine innings at a strike rate of 136.72, followed by a disappointing IPL 2026 where he managed just 270 runs in 13 innings at an average of 20.76 and a strike rate of 147.54.

India T20I Squad for Ireland and England tour

Shreyas Iyer (capt), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vc), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, and Prince Yadav.

With input from wires.