Team India's chief selector Ajit Agarkar heaps praise on newly appointed T20I captain Shreyas Iyer

Though India batter Shreyas Iyer was not part of Indiarsquos T20 World Cupwinning squad last March the Mumbai batter has been rewarded for his consistency both as a batter and leader when chief selector Ajit Agarkar and his selection committee named him as Indiarsquos new T20I captain on SaturdayIyer 31 has represented India in 14 Tests 76 ODIs and 51 T20Is scoring 811 2977 and 1104 runs respectively He will now lead India on the upcoming tours of Ireland and England and at the Asian GamesChief selector Ajit Agarkar addresses the media at the BCCI headquarters at Wankhede on Saturday PicAshish RajeldquoWe have seen what he Shreyas has done over the last few years leading different IPL franchises He won the IPL final once for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2024 We have seen everything that a captain possibly can handle His own performances have been really goodrdquo Agarkar said during the postselection press conference at the BCCI headquarters at the Wankhede Stadium on SaturdayAgarkar reckoned that Iyer who last played a T20I for India in December 2023 missed out on the T20 World Cup because of Suryakumar Yadavrsquos presence in the middle order ldquoHe Iyer was quite close to getting into the T20 World Cup squad With Surya still there there was no room for himrdquo Agarkar saidSuryakumar YadavExplaining how Suryakumar lost his captaincy and place in the team Agarkar a former India pacer said ldquoObviously itrsquos a tough one having just won the T20 World Cup but as it happens after most World Cups we try and reassess whatrsquos the best way forward It was due to partly his Suryakumar own form but also looking at the next twoyear cycle or a little more than two years now till the next World Cup we thought this was the best way forward and like I said Shreyas is a very deserving captainrdquoAgarkar admitted that Suryakumar was discussed in detail by the selectorsldquoWe deliberated on Suryakumar a lot especially when someone has led you to a World Cup win Itrsquos not the easiest sort of discussion to have but I donrsquot necessarily think at some stage we were going to look at it Now whether IPL form dictated it Irsquom not so sure There were always conversations around itrdquo he addedThe selectors rested pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for the Ireland and England T20I series However the ace pacer will return for the Asian Games which will be held in Japan from September 19 to October 48076Suryakumar Yadavrsquos winning percentage as T20I skipper mdash the highest among Indian captains India won 42 and lost 10 of out 52 matches under his leadershipOneShreyas Iyer is the only captain to have guided three IPL franchises to the finalSquad for Ireland and England T20IsShreyas Iyer captain 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 Prince Yadav and Vaibhav SooryavanshiAsian Games squadShreyas Iyer captain Abhishek Sharma Sanju Samson Ishan Kishan Shivam Dube Tilak Varma vc Nitish Kumar Reddy Axar Patel Washington Sundar Varun Chakravarthy Ravi Bishnoi Harshit Rana Arshdeep Singh Jasprit Bumrah and Vaibhav SooryavanshiJaiswal replaces injured KohliStar batter Virat Kohli will miss Indiarsquos threematch ODI series against Afghanistan later this month after failing to recover from a hamstring injury and the selectors on Saturday named Yashasvi Jaiswal as his replacementKohli who plays only one format after retiring from Test and T20I had suffered a hamstring injury during the recent IPL final between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad