Double promotion for Sanju Samson, Shreyas Iyer unlikely to be India’s new T20I captain
What gives Sanju Samson the edge over Shreyas Iyer in the race for captaincy is him being part of India’s T20 setup for a while now.
A day after reports claimed Shreyas Iyer being the forerunner to replace Suryakumar Yadav as the new India T20I captain, a new contender has emerged. As reported by Dainik Jagran, it is Sanju Samson, who is looked as the future captain and not Iyer. The suspense around India’s new captain will end when BCCI announces the squad for the tour of England and Ireland in June-July. The announcement is anticipated to arrive shortly after the conclusion of IPL 2026.
While announcing the squad the performance in the ongoing edition of IPL will be taken into consideration. Suryakumar’s lean patch has put his position at risk. The Mumbai Indians star has managed to accumulate just 195 runs in 10 matches so far at an average of below 19.50.
Both Iyer and Samson, on the other hand, have shown good temperament. Samson has 402 runs from 10 matches, including two centuries and an unbeaten 87. Iyer has scored 333 from 10 matches (9 innings), while operating in the middle-order.
What gives Samson the edge over Iyer in the race for captaincy is him being part of India’s T20 setup for a while now, as claimed in the report. Iyer’s last appearance in the shorter format for India was in December 2023, which was almost two and a half years ago.
Samson also played a huge role in India’s successful campaign at the T20 World Cup, played right before the IPL. In terms of leadership, Samson has served as the captain of Rajasthan Royals previously. He had led the franchise to runners-up finish in the 2022 edition, top-scored among his peers two years later, amassing 531 runs. He is also the most successful Rajasthan Royals skipper, having recorded 33 wins in 67 matches.
Shreyas too has been an exceptional leader in the IPL. After leading Kolkata Knight Riders to their third IPL title, he took Punjab Kings to a runners-up finish last season and the chances of them qualifying for yet another playoffs appears firm.
Meanwhile, the report further claimed that there are talks of Samson being elevated as CSK skipper as well from next season onwards.
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