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The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has already announced the India national cricket team for the upcoming Ireland and England T20I series and Asian Games 2026. Shreyas Iyer has been named as the new T20I captain, replacing T20 World Cup 2026-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav, with Axar Patel also removed from the vice-captaincy duties.
Tilak Verma has taken over the role of vice-captain for the upcoming three series. However, after the southpaw was appointed as Shreyas Iyer’s deputy, former chief selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth has taken a dig at current selector Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir for removing Axar Patel from the vice-captain position. Akshar Patel was the vice-captain of India in the 2026 T20 World Cup.
How did you see through it? [Axar Patel]- Chris Srikkanth on vice-captaincy switch
The decision to make Tilak Verma the vice-captain has come as a surprise to everyone as the southpaw has no prior captaincy experience, and Axar Patel has been leading Delhi Capitals in the last two seasons of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) and has done a good job as captain of the franchise.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, he said, “Akshar Patel was the vice-captain of the T20 World Cup-winning team, and he is still in the team. How did you leave him behind and choose Tilak Verma as the vice-captain? I don’t understand the logic behind the move. Tilak Verma has not captained a single team in the IPL, while Axar Patel is captaining Delhi Capitals.”
He further said on Cheeky Cheeka, “The IPL was not fatal for Tilak Verma either. He played some good innings but could not perform consistently. It is surprising that he was made the vice-captain straight away.”
Will Washington Sundar play as an all-rounder?
Kris Srikkanth also mentioned Gujarat Titans (GT) all-rounder Washington Sundar, who has been included in the squad, should have been left out of the squad for the upcoming tours of Ireland and England as he has not been bowling much in T20 cricket.
He has rarely been seen bowling in IPL 2026, as Washington Sundar has bowled only 9.1 overs in 17 IPL 2026 games, with GT using him more for his batting ability only in the middle order. Chris Srikkanth is also surprised by Ravi Bishnoi’s call regarding Krunal Pandya and he believes that Krunal Pandya should be added.
Krunal Pandya could have been selected easily – Chris Srikkanth
“Washington Sundar does not deserve a place in the team. He does not even bowl for GT and is playing as a middle-order batsman. So he is a stand-by middle-order batsman for India because he does not bowl at all. He does not bowl for GT and rarely bowls for India too. So it is a question mark as to how sure Sundar is in the team as an all-rounder,” Srikkanth said. (Via above source).
“Where did Ravi Bishnoi suddenly come into the team? He was not even on the radar and had not even played half the matches for RR. Krunal Pandya could have easily been selected in place of Bishnoi. In fact, Krunal should have come in as an all-rounder for Sundar or Bishnoi,” Srikkanth said.
Also read: “A lot of question marks”: R Ashwin criticizes Gautam Gambhir and Ajit Agarkar over Kuldeep Yadav’s misbehavior