Shreyas Iyer blocked from India captaincy; IPL final rides termed irrelevant

Veteran IPL pacer Sandeep Sharma recently opened up about the speculation around Shreyas Iyer replacing Suryakumar Yadav as India’s T20I captain. Sandeep stated that leading a franchise to an IPL final should not be the criterion to captain the national cricket team, calling the debate senseless.

Shreyas Iyer guided Punjab Kings (PBKS) to their first final in more than a decade. He scored 604 runs in 17 innings at an average of over 50 and a strike rate of 175. Iyer was the sixth-highest scorer of the tournament. Some former cricketers have urged the BCCI to test his leadership skills in international cricket.

This Debate That Shreyas Iyer Took His Team To the Finals Is Senseless - Sandeep Sharma

Speaking to CricTracker, Sandeep Sharma said that franchise leadership is not a benchmark for international captaincy. He pointed out that Suryakumar Yadav doesn’t captain in the IPL and called the discussion on Shreyas Iyer “senseless.”

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“See, this debate that he (Iyer), as a captain, took his team to the finals is senseless. Surya is not doing the captaincy of any franchise. So that is not the criterion to be the captain of the Indian side,” Sandeep said.

"And for the last three years, Rohit was not doing the captaincy of any franchise. But still, he was the captain of the T20 Indian team, and the one-day side still has the same captain. And he was the captain of all three formats of tests. So that is not the criteria for what you do in IPL,” he added.

Indian Team Is a Totally Different Team - Sandeep Sharma

Sandeep Sharma said that captaining an IPL side and leading India are two very different responsibilities. He stated that while franchise cricket involves guiding a mix of domestic and overseas players, international cricket requires managing a selected squad at the highest level.

"Like that BCCI has its own domestic league, right? And when you are picking an international team, there you are picking 15 people. So you pick a captain who will manage 15 people better there," Sharma continued.

"Here in IPL, you have a lot of domestic players, a lot of young players. Some of them come from overseas. But here you are picking someone who will manage 15 people better here."

"So this debate, I feel senseless that what is he doing in IPL. These two teams are totally different teams. Indian team is a totally different team. IPL team is a totally different team. So I feel people need to learn and people need to understand more about this thing before commenting," he added.

Shreyas Iyer Has Guided Three Different Franchises to IPL Finals

Shreyas Iyer has guided three different franchises to IPL finals. He first led Delhi Capitals to their maiden final in 2020 and later helped Kolkata Knight Riders win the 2024 championship.

Notably, he was not included in the Indian squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2025, set to begin on September 9 in the UAE. He was also not considered among the five standby players for the tournament.

The right-handed batter has scored 1,104 runs in 51 T20Is at an average of 30.67 and a strike rate of 136.13, including eight half-centuries with a best score of 74. He last played a T20I against Australia in Bengaluru in December 2023, scoring 53 off 37 balls in India’s six-run victory.

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