Sanju Samson moves ahead of Shreyas Iyer in race to replace Suryakumar as India's T20I captain

Sanju Samson has moved to the front of the queue to take over as India's T20I captain, with new reports placing him ahead of Shreyas Iyer in the BCCI's thinking as Suryakumar Yadav's grip on the role weakens through a lean Indian Premier League season.

Reports out of Mumbai on Saturday suggested the change of guard could be triggered around India's tour of Ireland in late June and the white-ball series in England that follows from July 1. Iyer was the name floated 24 hours earlier, but the latest line from inside the BCCI puts Samson at the top of the list.

Why Samson has overtaken Iyer

The simplest argument for Samson is that he has not been out of the room. The 31-year-old wicket-keeper batter was named Player of the Tournament at the T20 World Cup in March, scoring 321 runs in five innings at an average of 80.25 and a strike rate just under 200, with three half-centuries on the bounce in the back end of India's title run, including 89 off 46 balls against New Zealand in the final.

Iyer's case rests almost entirely on his Indian Premier League form. Punjab Kings sat at the top of the table for most of the first half of the season under his captaincy, winning six of their opening seven before back-to-back defeats handed top spot to Sunrisers Hyderabad this week. The cricketing logic is solid. The selection logic is harder. Iyer's last T20 international for India was against Australia in December 2023, and even when he was named in the squad for the home series against New Zealand in January as an injury cover, he did not crack the playing eleven. The BCCI is reportedly uncomfortable handing the armband to someone outside the immediate T20I circle with the Asia Cup window not far away.

What is happening with Suryakumar

Suryakumar's numbers for Mumbai Indians have not made the call any harder. He went past Kieron Pollard at the start of May to become the franchise's second-highest run scorer in IPL history, but that record came at a low ebb personally. His returns this season have stayed thin, with single-digit scores piling up among his recent dismissals, and his side has slid to ninth in the table with their playoff path now requiring close to a clean sweep of remaining games.

The 35-year-old also stepped away briefly during the league phase for family reasons, leaving Mumbai short of options at one stage with Hardik Pandya already nursing a back spasm in the same window. Mahela Jayawardene has continued to back his man publicly. The BCCI, by contrast, is reportedly working on a longer view, with Suryakumar's own form making it easier to start the conversation.

The vice-captain question

The leadership reshuffle goes wider than the top job. Reports also suggest Axar Patel is no longer being treated as the lock-in vice-captain, and Samson's shift up the queue could trigger a rethink of who sits beside the new captain. Iyer himself is still in the picture as a senior batting option even if he is overlooked for the armband, with selectors keen to bring him back into the white-ball setup before the Asia Cup window.

Nothing has been finalised. The squads for Ireland and England will be the first hard test of where the BCCI has actually landed, and the selection meeting around those tours is expected to be where the captaincy line gets drawn.

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