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Shreyas Iyer has made a big captaincy record during the second T20I between the India National Cricket Team and the Afghanistan National Cricket Team at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
Leading India in the second match of the ongoing three-match T20I series, Iyer opted to bowl first after winning the toss at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Tuesday (September 15). Amid this, Washington Sundar faces T20I role dilemma as Aakash Chopra suggests big change.
Shreyas Iyer creates massive captaincy record
Shreyas Iyer has now completed 11 toss wins in his first 12 matches as India’s T20I captain, with the latest one against Afghanistan. The toss win took his tally to 11 wins in 12 tosses, the highest ever by any skipper in T20I history during their first 12 games in charge.
Iyer has now surpassed Mirza Baig of Qatar and Henry Tyler of the Philippines, who had 10 toss wins each in their first 12 T20Is as captain. Among full-member teams, Eoin Morgan and Mahmudullah are next with nine toss wins each.
Iyer’s achievement is special when compared with Virat Kohli, Liton Das, and Shai Hope, who managed only two toss wins in their first 12 T20Is as captains.
Notably, Iyer has lost only one toss since taking charge in June 2026. The only toss Iyer has lost came against Zimbabwe in the second T20I at Harare Sports Club on June 25, 2026. Amid this, Jasprit Bumrah achieves unique T20I milestone with maiden over against Afghanistan.
Shreyas Iyer eyes Rohit Sharma’s massive T20I record
Meanwhile, Shreyas Iyer also becomes the second Indian captain with the most toss wins in a calendar year in T20I cricket with 18 wins. Iyer is now close to the former captain Rohit Sharma’s record for the most tosses won by an Indian captain in T20 cricket in a calendar year.
Rohit leads the chart with 22 toss wins in 2022, while MS Dhoni is third with 16 in 2010. Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, and Dhoni also feature with 15 toss wins each in different calendar years. With more T20Is still to come in 2026, Iyer can break Rohit’s record during the Asian Games 2026.
Shreyas Iyer reveals India’s big mistake after Afghanistan T20I
Meanwhile, Iyer admitted that bowling first can give a team a slight advantage in T20 cricket, as it helps the bowlers understand how the pitch is behaving before the innings progresses.
He said at the toss, "Well, you have a fair idea about how the wicket plays, and the bowler—it's important for the bowler to adapt as quickly as possible. So, once you gauge the pace of the wicket, you know how the wicket is playing. So, it becomes a little bit of advantage, but whichever team plays the best, they win.”
Looking back at India’s first T20I against Afghanistan, Iyer felt the bowlers could have done better in the middle overs, especially between the 10th and 15th overs.
Iyer explained, “Yes, absolutely. It wasn't comprehensive, though. We could have won it by a huge margin, but Azmat and Nabi, they played very well in between, and they got a crucial partnership. So kudos to them in that. And we as a bowling unit could have probably gotten some more wickets in the middle, especially in that phase from 10 to 15. And then coming into bat, obviously, they were phenomenal in their approach.”
