Iyer takes charge as India open their Belfast tour without the injured Reddy
Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy era begins in Belfast this week, with India playing two T20Is against Ireland before the England leg. They travel without the injured Nitish Kumar Reddy.
Jun 24, 2026
India open a new white-ball chapter on June 26, when Shreyas Iyer leads them out at Stormont for the first of two Twenty20 internationals against Ireland. It is the first assignment of the post-Suryakumar Yadav era, and the tourists land in Belfast already a player short.
Iyer takes charge, with a 15-year-old along for the ride
Iyer was confirmed as India’s T20I captain earlier this month, with Suryakumar dropped and Tilak Varma installed as his deputy. The Belfast leg is where that reshuffle gets its first runout before the bigger five-match series in England, which starts on July 1.
The squad carries one name nobody will be able to ignore. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, all of 15, has been handed a maiden senior call-up after a record-breaking IPL season, and is now the youngest cricketer India have ever picked for their senior men’s team, a mark that had stood to Sachin Tendulkar. Uncapped quick Prince Yadav is in too, rewarded for his own IPL form. Whether either gets a game in a two-match window is another matter, but the selectors have clearly used this trip to look ahead rather than simply tick off a fixture.
The Reddy blow, and a Pandya-shaped hole
The mood was dented on June 23, when Nitish Kumar Reddy was ruled out of the entire UK tour. A scan on a left quadriceps problem, picked up during the recent ODI series against Afghanistan, showed swelling with fibre disruption, and the board has pencilled in at least four weeks of rehabilitation with the timeline likely to stretch.
It is an awkward absence. Reddy had been earmarked as the seam-bowling all-rounder covering for the injured Hardik Pandya, and India do not carry a like-for-like replacement for that role. Shivam Dube and Harshit Rana offer something with the ball, but neither is a straight swap. Suryansh Shedge has been called up in Reddy’s place for a maiden India selection, the uncapped all-rounder earning the nod after 147 runs in five matches in the recent India A tri-series in Sri Lanka and a tidy workload with the ball.
Ireland rebuild around a new captain
The hosts have a fresh face leading them as well. Lorcan Tucker, the former vice-captain, has taken over as full-time T20I skipper for a side missing a long list of frontline names. Josh Little, Mark Adair, Paul Stirling, Curtis Campher, Barry McCarthy and Jordan Neill are all sidelined, which leaves Tucker leaning on Harry and Tim Tector, Gareth Delany and George Dockrell while handing chances to several uncapped players.
Ireland will not lack motivation. A depleted, experimental India arriving mid-transition is exactly the sort of fixture that can flatter a home side on a helpful surface, and Tucker will fancy his team’s chances of making the tourists work for it.
Two games to set a tone
For India, the brief is straightforward enough. Iyer wants a clean start to his captaincy, the new-look batting order needs minutes together, and the selectors will be watching how the younger options carry themselves before the England assignment. Both matches are at Stormont, on June 26 and 28, with a 6pm IST start. It is only two games, but first impressions of a new era tend to stick.