When did Shreyas Iyer last play a T20I for India before IRE vs IND series?
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Shreyas Iyer is India’s new T20I captain.
A few months after the ICC T20 World Cup 2026, the Indian men’s cricket team will kick off their T20I campaign with a two-match T20I series against Ireland in Belfast, starting on June 26.
India have acknowledged the IPL and domestic performances of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Prince Yadav, and Suryansh Shedge, granting them their maiden T20 call-ups. Along with them, Prasidh Krishna and Ravi Bishnoi get a spot in the squad as replacements for Mohammad Siraj and Varun Chakravarthy.
The Men in Blue have revamped their T20 squad by inducting new players while also retaining the team’s core. One of the first things that happened in this revamp was the appointment of a new T20I Captain – Shreyas Iyer.
Iyer has replaced ICC T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav as a player and captain. This series also marked Iyer’s return to the T20I team after a long time.
Iyer stages a comeback to T20Is after more than two years
Shreyas Iyer played his last T20I match against Australia on December 3, 2023, at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. He scored a half-century and was India’s highest run-scorer in that match. The match was a part of the Australia tour of India, where they played 5 T20Is, which India won handsomely 4-1.
The right-handed batsman has delivered outstanding performances as both captain and batsman over the past few years. He guided Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to their third title in IPL 2024 and also led Punjab Kings to their second-ever IPL final.
IPL 2025 was Iyer’s best season so far, with more than 600 runs to his name. He was the main orchestrator of Punjab Kings’ success. He has been scoring piles of runs in the middle order for years.
After a point, it became difficult to keep a player like Shreyas Iyer out of the T20I team. He was picked in some squads several times, but failed to make the cut for the playing XI.
He is making a comeback to the T20I format after around two and a half years, but this time not merely as a player—he is taking charge of the team.
When did Shreyas Iyer last play a T20I for India?
Shreyas Iyer played his last T20I match against Australia on December 3, 2023.
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Cricket runs in the blood of Indians — and that’s something she truly believes in. A law student with a lifelong connection to the game, she has followed cricket passionately since his school days. Like countless young fans, she first experienced the sport on the field before deepening his understanding through constant watching, reading, and conversations around the game. Writing became a natural extension of that passion, bringing a “Pavilion Perspective” to his work — capturing how fans experience matches through their own lens.