Shreyas Iyer back in India captaincy frame; Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav under pressure

Punjab Kings (PBKS) skipper and star batsman Shreyas Iyer has been brought back into the India captaincy frame by Robin Uthappa following his success as leader in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025.

The return of Shreyas Iyer in the captaincy discussions for the India National Cricket Team will mount pressure on the likes of Shubman Gill and Suryakumar Yadav.

Shreyas Iyer is currently a one-format player for Team India

Iyer, who made his India debut in 2017, is currently only part of the One Day Internationals set-up and is not being considered by the selection committee for Test or T20I cricket.

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He was once a regular for Team India across formats, but the loss of form to go with the emergence of youngsters led to his ouster from the side.

The 30-year-old, since being dropped from the Test and T20I team, had put in hard yards and significantly improved his game, becoming one of the best and most consistent batters in Indian cricket.

He has been scoring runs in both red-ball and white-ball, but his best quality remains the leadership he brings to the table. Iyer has been a proven leader and has guided three different teams to the final of the Indian Premier League, becoming the first skipper to achieve this feat.

In the IPL 2025, he joined forces with head coach Ricky Ponting, and their 'Project Punjab' has been quite successful as the Punjab Kings delivered one of their best-ever performance in the league and made it to the final for the first time since 2014.

Iyer will captain India in multiple formats - Robin Uthappa

In Qualifier 2 of IPL 2025 against the Mumbai Indians (MI), Iyer played a match-winning knock of 87 runs off 41 balls, with 5 fours and 8 sixes.

As he finished the match with a maximum against the 5-time champions, former India National Cricket Team player Robin Uthappa took to X (formerly Twitter) to drop a bombshell prediction.

Robin Uthappa stated that Iyer is too good a player, and he will soon be captaining the Indian team in multiple formats.

"I’ve said this time and again and I’ll say it AGAIN!! Iyer will captain India in multiple formats!! He has to!! He’s that good,” Uthappa wrote on X.

I’ve said this time and again and I’ll say it AGAIN!! Iyer will captain India in multiple formats!! He has to!! He’s that good!! 🫡🫠

— Robbie Uthappa (@robbieuthappa) June 1, 2025

Currently, Rohit Sharma is the ODI skipper of Team India, Shubman Gill is the Test captain, and Suryakumar Yadav is at the helm in T20I cricket.

Gill has been zeroed in on as the future all-format captain as he is also a deputy of Rohit Sharma in ODIs and was earlier named T20I vice-captain before losing his place in the team. Axar was the vice-captain of the Indian T20I team in their previous series.

I don't know where to start. I'm obviously a huge fan - AB de Villiers on Shreyas Iyer

Meanwhile, South Africa and Royal Challengers Bengaluru batting great AB de Villiers praised Shreyas Iyer for his batting brilliance and labeled himself as a fan of the PBKS captain. He said on JioStar:

"I don't know where to start. I'm obviously a huge fan. But that innings tonight was out of this world. He deserves every bit of the praise coming his way.

"Under immense pressure, knowing it was do-or-die, with the odds stacked against him - he stood tall. His sixes were a joy to watch. His head was still, his positioning perfect. He's calm, not arrogant - level-headed, and I love that about him. There are many more runs to come from this guy in the future. Shreyas Iyer, I salute you. What a knock."

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