Mumbai: The writing was on the wall. The official confirmation came on Saturday.
Suryakumar Yadav aka SKY, whose form as a T20 batter was on a steady decline, has lost the captaincy as well as a berth in Team India’s squad. As expected, Shreyas Iyer was named captain of the T20I squads for next month’s tour of the UK and the Asian Games in September-October.
The 35-year-old Suryakumar, who was snubbed despite leading India to the T20 World Cup title three months ago, seemed to take it quite sportingly.
Soon after chief selector announced the squads, SKY took to Instagram to wish Iyer’s team luck for the upcoming tours.
“Wishing this highly skilled group all the best for challenges ahead,” SKY wrote along with a list of selected players.
SKY posted another Instagram story to express his excitement on the inclusion of 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi in both squads.
“You have earned it and how. Super excited to follow your journey,” SKY wrote along with the news of Sooryavanshi becoming the youngest Indian cricketer to be selected for the senior men’s team.
Tilak Varma new vice-captain
Besides the change in captain, the selectors also named a new deputy. Tilak Varma replaced Axar Patel as the T20I vice-captain.
Jasprit Bumrah has been rested for the UK tour, but will spearhead India’s attack in the Asian Games, to be held in Aichi–Nagoya, Japan, from September 19 to October 4.
INDIA SQUAD FOR T20Is IN UK
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Md Siraj, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Prince Yadav, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
INDIA SQUAD FOR ASIAN GAMES
Shreyas Iyer (captain), Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan, Shivam Dube, Tilak Varma (vice-captain), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Ravi Bishnoi, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Jasprit Bumrah.
