3 reasons why Shreyas Iyer and not Sanju Samson should become India’s next T20I captain

For the past few days, there has been speculation that BCCI is considering making Suryakumar Yadav as India’s T20I captain. Under his leadership, India has yet to lose any series or tournament played in this format.

In March this year, Yadav had led India to T20 World Cup glory. This made India the first team to win consecutive T20 World Cups after winning in 2024 as well. Yadav’s poor form with the bat has now forced BCCI to consider other options. In the last two days, two names have come up – Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer.

Shreyas Iyer has been captaining the IPL since 2018 and has also led Mumbai in domestic cricket. Samson is also the IPL captain since 2021, but this year he has not taken over the captaincy.

In this article, we will list three major reasons why Shreyas Iyer should replace Sanju Samson as India’s T20I captaincy.

1. Shreyas Iyer has proven success as captain

Iyer became IPL captain for the first time in 2018, when Gautam Gambhir retired mid-season and handed over the reins of Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) to him.

In 2019, Iyer led DC to the IPL playoffs for the first time since 2012. The next year, he led the team to runner-up finish. Delhi was the table-topper in 2021, but Iyer was not the captain.

2022 was a setback for Kolkata Knight Riders, and 2023 was marred by injuries. But in 2024, Iyer made an astonishing leap and led KKR to the IPL title in one of the most impressive seasons ever by any team in IPL history.

In 2025, Iyer once again transferred his position to Punjab Kings for a huge sum. 26.75 crores, but he made sure that every last penny was worth it. Under Iyer’s leadership, Punjab finished as table-toppers and made the playoffs for the first time since 2014.

Although they finished runners-up, Iyer became the first captain to lead three different IPL franchises to the IPL final. In 2026, Punjab made a very strong start to their season, with 6 wins and no results in their first 7 matches and are still placed second on the points table.

Apart from this, Iyer also led Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title in 2024.

Samson’s resume as captain pales in comparison. Samson spent 4 and a half years as the captain of Rajasthan Royals before leaving the franchise to join CSK in 2026. In all those seasons, RR reached the playoffs only twice and failed to win either season.

A raw look at his numbers as captain in the IPL also paints a better picture

2. Shreyas Iyer has proved himself to be better tactically

It’s what matters when it comes to their performance in the metrics, i.e. tactics and pressure. Shreyas Iyer has emerged as a more sophisticated candidate.

As a result of his vast experience, he has also become better at handling situations under pressure. For example, Iyer deployed his troops to successfully defend just 111 runs against KKR last year. This was the lowest successful save in IPL history.

This year, Iyer has led his teammates with confidence. In particular, the belief that they could chase down even 265 if they wanted, which they eventually did. Samson, on the other hand, even in his brief tenure as Kerala captain, never really inspired such abysmal results.

3. Shreyas Iyer is more consistent with the bat

This is arguably the clearest argument in favor of Shreyas Iyer. Over the years, Samson has earned a reputation for being highly inconsistent with the bat.

For example, in the IPL, Samson will start a season strongly but fizzle out towards the end. Despite playing since 2013, it took Samson until 2024 to score 500 runs in an IPL season. And he hasn’t touched that mark since.

Even in IPL 2026, despite two unbeaten centuries and one 87* run, Samson has only 402 runs in 10 matches. Samson scored a double century against Goa in the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2019; For the longest time, it remained the only century he scored in 50-over cricket. He has since added three more, including one in ODIs.

For that matter, consider his recent form in T20Is. Samson was the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup, but before the tournament, in the T20 series against New Zealand, he had scored 46 runs in 5 matches at an average of 9.20.

Iyer, on the other hand, has always been the more consistent batsman. In ODIs, where he is a regular first-team player, Shreyas Iyer has been the rock of the middle order. Even though he was a regular in T20Is, Iyer managed to become a consistent batsman, even if he was not scoring at such a rapid pace.

The lead in IPL 2025 freed up Iyer’s batting even more. He scored over 600 runs at a strike rate of 175. This year, he has scored 333 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 164. Since the start of last year, Iyer has arguably scored more consistently in the IPL.

Batting numbers in IPL from start of 2025

Also read: Sanju Samson will become India’s T20I captain, Ajit Agarkar drops Shreyas Iyer