No T20Is in 30 months to captaincy- Shreyas Iyer’s story:Led KKR to 2024 title after losing national contract, scored 1453 runs in last 3 IPLs

It’s remarkable how so many things can change in a gap of two years, right? In 2024, Shreyas Iyer lost his national contract after making himself unavailable for domestic cricket. Cut to 2026, and Iyer stands on the verge of becoming India’s new T20I captain, taking over a team that won a third T20 World Cup title earlier this year. Iyer made his last T20I appearance 30 months ago against Australia. Now, with Suryakumar Yadav falling out of favour due to poor form, it was almost obvious that Iyer was next in line to lead the Men in Blue in the shortest format. So how did Iyer manage to script this incredible turnaround? Two stalwart cricket figures, Gautam Gambhir and Ricky Ponting, have had roles in his success story. Shreyas Iyer’s early roots of captaincy Well, this is not the first time that Shreyas’ captaincy would have had a Gambhir connection to it. It was in the 2018 IPL where the Delhi Capitals (formerly Delhi Daredevils) had won just one out of six matches and sat in the last position on the points table when Gambhir, the then captain of the franchise, took the bold call and handed over captaincy to a 22-year-old Iyer. Ponting was the head coach when DC saw a captaincy switch from Gambhir to Iyer. Delhi went on to win four out of their remaining eight games, and although they finished in the bottom spot that season, it saw the birth of Iyer, the captain who would later go on to stamp his authority among the best in the league. Leading Delhi Capitals to the 2020 IPL final That Iyer had immense potential as captain was without a doubt. After finishing last on the points table in 2018, Iyer captained Delhi to the playoffs in 2019 (their first playoff qualification since 2012). In 2020, he took it a step further. Delhi Capitals, for the first time in their history, had made it to the final of the IPL and Iyer’s captaincy skills were there for everyone to see. Despite Delhi falling short against the Mumbai Indians in the final, Iyer was seen as a long-time captaincy prospect for the Delhi franchise. First full-time captaincy stint with KKR After the 2021 season came a mega-auction that would go on to turn Iyer’s fortunes. The right-hander saw an intense bidding war between a number of teams, including Delhi Capitals and the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), but in the end, it was the latter that ended up securing his services for a whopping amount of ₹12.25 crore. The switch to Kolkata from Delhi was the start of a special chapter for Iyer, the captain. However, the season did not go too well for Iyer and KKR, with the team managing six wins out of eight, finishing seventh. 2024- Iyer’s year of setback and redemption If ever there’s a movie made on Iyer, the spotlight would certainly be on the year 2024. That year saw him script one of the most remarkable comeback stories in Indian cricket. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to terminate both his and Ishan Kishan’s national contracts after the two did not comply with the board’s instruction to play domestic cricket. They say that tough times never last, but tough people do. And one of Iyer’s incredible traits, which has made him the player he is today, is his incredible mental toughness. The right-hander turned up for Mumbai later in that Ranji Trophy season and helped his team capture the trophy, with an incredible 95-run knock in the final. That was just the start of his incredible 2024 comeback story. For the second time in Iyer’s story, a Gambhir connection appeared. And this time, it resulted in an IPL title for KKR. Gambhir, who had led KKR to two IPL trophies as captain, returned to the franchise before the 2024 season as mentor. And the Gambhir-Iyer combination did wonders for the Knights as they went on to dominate their way to IPL glory that year. That Iyer was reprimanded by the BCCI for not playing domestic cricket was actually fitting, as the player was now scripting his comeback through consistent performances in domestic cricket itself. After IPL glory, he captained Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy with a victory over Madhya Pradesh. Iyer was also part of the Mumbai team that won the Irani Cup that year. Success with Punjab Kings Iyer’s stocks as captain and a player had risen incredibly since 2024. The right-hander fetched a massive sum of ₹26.75 crore from the Punjab Kings, and the move paid dividends for the franchise. After reuniting with Ponting, Punjab Kings, under Iyer, made it to the final of the IPL after an 11-year wait and came close to winning the title, falling short by 23 runs in the final. In IPL 2026, Iyer’s Punjab Kings established themselves as a solid title contender, going unbeaten in their first six matches. The team, however, would go on to suffer an incredible collapse, losing six of their remaining seven matches and missing out on a playoff spot. Why is Shreyas Iyer the perfect replacement for Suryakumar Yadav? While his captaincy skills have already been spoken of, Iyer’s abilities with the bat just cannot be overlooked. 351 runs in 2024, 604 in 2025 and 498 in 2026, Iyer has consistently been amongst the runs in the past three IPL seasons. The fact that he did not make the T20I team was in itself a surprise, and now is the perfect time to induct him into the setup, with the team ready to usher in a new era in the shortest format. Iyer is the perfect replacement for Surya in T20Is, as he slots in at the exact number-four batting slot. For the unversed, Iyer is also India’s ODI vice-captain and was the highest scorer for the Men in Blue in their Champions Trophy triumph last season. Iyer being given T20I captaincy only goes on to show his rising importance in India’s white-ball plans ahead of so many important assignments.