Delhi: Shreyas Iyer’s innings as India’s new T20 International captain began with the first T20 International against Ireland in Belfast. As luck would have it, after the match played in this format in December 2023, when the next match was played in June 2026, he was the captain. Meanwhile, India also won the T20 World Cup. It had never happened before in India that the captaincy of the T20 International team was handed over to a player who had been out of the team for so long.

However, Shreyas Iyer could not connect this memorable occasion with a memorable result and it started with a defeat. Now he has become the 15th captain of India in T20 International and it is expected that he will remain the captain for the next many years. If we look at this list of Indian captains, the truth is that out of the last 14 captains, only 4 got a chance to hold the reins of the team for a long period. Some special facts:

* India’s first captain in T20 International was Virender Sehwag and it started with a win. India’s first T20 International match was against South Africa on 1 December 2006 in Johannesburg.

* The second captain was MS Dhoni and he was the captain in 72 T20 Internationals between 2007 and 2016. His record was 41 wins and 28 losses. The biggest achievement is that India has won the T20 World Cup with MS Dhoni. Dhoni holds the record for the longest tenure of an Indian T20 captain. He was well-known for his ability to take right decisions under pressure and nurture young talent with his restraint and empathetic approach.

* In his absence, Suresh Raina (3 matches in 2010-11) and Ajinkya Rahane (2 matches in 2015) were the captains.

* The next phase of continuous captaincy came when Virat Kohli was the captain between 2017 and 2021. With him the team won 30 out of 50 matches and lost 16 matches.

* In the absence of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma became the captain and after Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma became the next regular captain. Between 2017 and 2024, he was captain in 62 matches, out of which he won 49 matches and lost 12 matches. The biggest achievement is that India has won the T20 World Cup with Rohit Sharma. India’s drought of not winning an ICC trophy ended. Rohit Sharma holds the record for leading India to the most wins in T20 Internationals.

* Among these regular captains, Shikhar Dhawan (3 matches in 2021) and Rishabh Pant (5 matches in 2022) became captains, but India was looking for another regular captain.

* The next name in this series was Hardik Pandya but due to poor fitness, he could not meet this criterion and was the captain in 16 matches in 2022-23, out of which he won 10 matches and lost 5 matches. However, the goal of finding a regular captain was not achieved.

* As a workaround arrangement during this period, KL Rahul (1 match in 2022), Jasprit Bumrah (2 matches in 2023) and Rituraj Gaikwad (3 matches in 2023) were made captain. Two special records were made here. Jasprit Bumrah is the only bowler to captain India in T20 International while Ruturaj Gaikwad led the Indian team to the gold medal in the Asian Games in Hangzhou 2023. He is the first cricket captain to win Asian Games gold for India.

* The next regular captain became Suryakumar Yadav who was the captain of India from 2023 to 2026. With Suryakumar Yadav, Team India won 40 out of 52 matches and lost only 8 matches. The biggest achievement is that India has won the T20 World Cup with Suryakumar Yadav.

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* Meanwhile, the selectors experimented with Shubman Gill in 2024 and had a plan to make him the captain of India in all three formats, but despite winning 4 out of 5 matches with him, this experiment was stopped.

* After Surya Kumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer has now been given a chance as the next regular captain with the hope that he will take up this responsibility successfully till the 2028 Olympics.