Over the past few days, there has been speculation that the BCCI may be looking to move on from Suryakumar Yadav as India's T20I captain. Under him, India has yet to lose any series or tournaments that they have played in the format.
In March of this year, Yadav had led India to T20 World Cup glory. This had made India the first team to win back-to-back T20 World Cups, following the win in 2024 as well. Yadav's poor form with the bat has now made the BCCI look for other options to take on the armband. Over the past two days, two names have emerged - Sanju Samson and Shreyas Iyer.
Shreyas Iyer has been captaining in the IPL since 2018 and has also led Mumbai in domestic cricket. Samson has also been an IPL captain since 2021, but has not taken up the armband this year.
In this article, we will list three key reasons why Shreyas Iyer should take up India's T20I captaincy over Sanju Samson if it comes to that.
Iyer first became an IPL captain in 2018, when Gautam Gambhir retired mid-way through the season and handed the reins of Delhi Daredevils (Delhi Capitals now) to him.
In 2019, Iyer led DC to the IPL playoffs for the first time since 2012. The next year, he led the team to a runner-up finish. Delhi were table-toppers in 2021, but Iyer wasn't the captain.
2022 at Kolkata Knight Riders was a blip, and he was out injured in 2023. But in 2024, Iyer made a stunning leap as he led KKR to the IPL title in one of the most dominant seasons any team has ever had in IPL history.
In 2025, Iyer once again shifted base to Punjab Kings for a whopping Rs. 26.75 crores, but he made sure every last paisa was worth it. Under Iyer, Punjab finished as table-toppers and made it into the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
Although they finished as runners-up, Iyer became the first captain to lead three different IPL franchises to the IPL final. In 2026, Punjab started their season extremely strongly with 6 wins and a no result in their first 7 matches, and are still second on the points table.
Apart from this, Iyer also led Mumbai to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title in 2024.
Samson's resume as captain simply pales when compared to that. Samson spent 4 and a half years as captain of the Rajasthan Royals before leaving that franchise to join CSK in 2026. Across all those seasons, RR only made the playoffs twice and failed to win either season.
A raw look at their numbers as captain in the IPL also paints a better picture
PlayerMatchesWonLostNo ResultWin %Shreyas Iyer975638357.73%Sanju Samson673333149.25%2. Shreyas Iyer has proven himself to be better tactically
Coming to their performance in metrics that matter, i.e., tactics and pressure. Shreyas Iyer emerges as the more polished candidate.
As a result of his vast experience, he has also become better at handling situations under pressure. For example, Iyer had marshaled his troops into successfully defending just 111 against KKR last year. It was the lowest successfully defended in IPL history.
This year, Iyer has led his teammates with belief. Specifically, the belief that they can chase down even 265 if they want, which they eventually did. Samson, on the other hand, never really inspired such outrageous results, even in his brief stint as captain of Kerala.
3. Shreyas Iyer is more consistent with the bat
This one is arguably the most obvious argument in favour of Shreyas Iyer. Over the years, Samson has cultivated a reputation for being heavily inconsistent with the bat.
In the IPL, for example, Samson would start a season strongly, but fizzle out towards the end. Despite playing since 2013, it took Samson until 2024 to finally hit 500 runs in one IPL season. And he hasn't touched that mark since.
Even in IPL 2026, despite two unbeaten centuries and an 87*, Samson has just 402 runs in 10 matches. In the Vijay Hazare Trophy in 2019, Samson had made a double century against Goa; for the longest time, it remained the only century he had made in all 50-over cricket. He has added three more since, including one in ODIs.
Consider his recent form in T20Is, for that matter. Samson was indeed the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cup, but in the T20I series against New Zealand before the tournament, he made 46 runs in 5 matches at an average of 9.20
Iyer, on the other hand, has always been a more consistent batter. In ODIs, where he is a first-team regular, Shreyas Iyer has been the rock of the middle order. Even while he was a regular in T20Is, Iyer managed to be a consistent batter, even if not so fast scoring.
In IPL 2025, leadership seemed to free Iyer's batting even more. He made over 600 runs at a strike rate of 175. This year, he has 333 runs in 10 matches at a strike rate of 164. Since the start of last year, Iyer has arguably put up more consistent numbers in the IPL.
Batting numbers in IPL since the start of 2025
PlayerMatchesRunsAverageStrike Rate50s100sShreyas Iyer2793749.31170.98100Sanju Samson1968745.8155.0722Also Read: Sanju Samson to become India T20I captain as Ajit Agarkar dumps Shreyas Iyer
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