Shreyas Iyer's appointment as India's T20I captain is unusual for several reasons.
Since his most recent appearance in the format, in December 2023, India have won back-to-back T20 World Cups, and moved through an entire cycle under Suryakumar Yadav, who helped India successfully defend their title this March.
There is no precedent for India handing the reins of their T20I side to a player who has spent so much time outside the team. Yet, on Saturday, chief selector Ajit Agarkar gave Iyer a ringing endorsement, entrusting him with a team that has a clear two-year runway leading into the next T20 World Cup and the LA Olympics.
"I don't have to change my personality," Iyer said in Mumbai in his first public reaction to the appointment. "I have to be the same person I was before, and not try to be someone else or be under someone's shadow."
Iyer has proved he is his own man over the years. It all started in 2018, when he was thrust into the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) captaincy after Gautam Gambhir stepped down midway through the season. It was almost as if responsibility had handed him a magic wand.
He made the highest score by a player captaining in his first IPL match, became only the third Indian batter at the time to hit ten or more sixes in an IPL innings, and walked away with the Player-of-the-Match award, becoming only the second player to do so on IPL captaincy debut.
That version of Iyer was a fearless and carefree 23-year-old. Since then, he has levelled up his captaincy CV. An IPL trophy with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), two seasons at the helm of Punjab Kings (PBKS) including one with a runners-up finish, leadership experience with his domestic side Mumbai across white-ball formats, a Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy title in 2024-25, and a runners-up finish for SoBo Unicorns in last year's Mumbai T20 have combined to make him better prepared than ever for the demands of international captaincy.
'Iyer's fearless attitude, self-belief stand out'
Abhishek Nayar, a friend and mentor and someone who worked closely with Iyer during KKR's run to the IPL title in 2024, noticed something about him right from his rookie days that convinced him he was cut from a different cloth.
"His fearless attitude, self-belief and confidence stood out the day he walked into the Mumbai Ranji team," Nayar says. "Normally, you see youngsters being all by themselves, overawed by the surroundings, [and] talking only if required.
"We've gone through that as young Mumbai cricketers too. So to suddenly see this young boy just out of Under-19s freely expressing his thoughts and speaking his mind, [and] mingling openly with all the players and coaches, was a refreshing sight."
The confidence that allowed a young Iyer to express his unfiltered thoughts in a star-studded Mumbai dressing room has only grown in the years since, and those who have worked closely with him point to his conviction and clarity in thinking.
Among them is Brad Haddin, the PBKS assistant coach, who cites an example from IPL 2025 to underline this. After PBKS were bundled out for 101 by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Qualifier 1, which they lost by eight wickets, PBKS considered batting first if they won the toss to avoid scoreboard pressure against Mumbai Indians in a must-win Qualifier 2. But Iyer had other ideas.
"We [coaching group] said to Shreyas, 'Yep, we are batting first.' But he goes, 'No, we're bowling. I'll win it for you.' And then he played one of the best IPL knocks," Haddin says. He isn't exaggerating. Iyer made an unbeaten 87 off 41 balls to single-handedly take PBKS to their 204-run target, and vaulted them into the final.
There's an example from IPL 2026 as well, from PBKS' final league fixture against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). PBKS had lost six matches on the bounce, and needed to beat LSG to stay alive. Iyer allayed any pressure by striking a 51-ball 101 not out to help PBKS chase down 197.
"These are the matches you want to play where everything is on the line," Haddin says. "The captain for the couple of days leading into the match had that look in his eye. He wanted to be the one that made the difference and turned things around, and gave us an opportunity to play in the finals.
"You'd go a long way to see a better innings and a better captain's knock than that... He's a tremendous leader of men. He reads the game well. The changing room follows him. He speaks with purpose."
'He will take the heat as a leader'
Another aspect of Iyer that has earned widespread plaudits is his tactical smarts. PBKS team-mate and vice-captain Shashank Singh gives a peek into this from that LSG game. He takes the example of his dismissal of Josh Inglis with his occasional medium-pace, and the planning that went into it.
"Shreyas felt that on that wicket, with my pace, Josh Inglis would find it difficult to access cow corner or deep midwicket, and would instead look to hit straighter," Shashank says. "When you watch the dismissal back, that's exactly what happened. The shot went straight back over my head, and he placed himself perfectly. It was his move."
Shashank remembers an incident from the previous game against LSG too. After dropping two sitters, he walked out for the post-match handshakes visibly embarrassed. As head coach Ricky Ponting approached, Iyer playfully tried to hide Shashank's face with his cap, tiding over a potentially embarrassing moment with his humour.
"I dropped many catches; a few of those catches changed the course of the match also," Shashank says. "But not even for once Shreyas blamed me. He came to my room later that day to ask if everything was alright, and [whether] I needed some help.
"Not once did he make me feel like a culprit. Because when you're losing and you're also captain, you have to take the heat as a leader. There are pressures. To be able to absorb all that for the team is something he has done amazingly well."
'The door is always open'
Shams Mulani, Iyer's Mumbai team-mate, has watched his evolution up close. The two have been team-mates since their Under-15 days at Shivaji Park Gymkhana, and have transitioned into team-mates in Mumbai's senior team.
"As a captain, he will always lead the way with his intent and body language," Mulani, who won the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy under Iyer in 2024-25, says. "If he has two options in front of him, it's always the aggressive route.
"As a bowler, sometimes I may doubt if that's the best approach. He'll assure you that even if the figures may look off in trying to go for a wicket, at least we won't think of the what-ifs later. That way as captain he gives you that backing."
Mulani's experiences are mirrored by those of Vijaykumar Vyshak, who believes one of Iyer's biggest strengths is his ability to make players feel secure. Vyshak featured in just five games during IPL 2025, and remembers being jittery ahead of his first game of the season, until Iyer comforted him.
"He backs his players - doesn't matter if you're doing well or not doing well," Vyshak says. "For a bowler, it's important to have a captain who backs you when you're low. That's the confidence you need. You may have a couple of bad games, but once you speak to him, he gives you that assurance to come back."
Vyshak says there is little hierarchy in the way Iyer communicates, regardless of whether he's speaking to an international star or a youngster finding his feet in the IPL.
"With him, what you see is what you get," Vyshak says. "His door is always open, and you can go and talk to him anytime. You thrive on confidence like that. He's been playing for India for so many years. So when somebody like that is willingly saying, 'Come anytime if you want a chat,' it's something you always appreciate."
Shashank recalls one of PBKS' earliest team meetings ahead of IPL 2026. "The way he talks to someone like Pyla Avinash or Harnoor Pannu, [both] new to the circuit, is the same as the way he talks to me or Arshdeep Singh.
"Youngsters initially tended to keep to themselves when he was around. But he made sure they were comfortable, telling them 'Sab kuch normal hai [everything is normal],' and that you're equally as important to the team as anyone else in the room."
The self-belief that caught Nayar's eye when Iyer was a teenager remains intact. Over time, it has been complemented by tactical clarity, emotional intelligence, and an ability to inspire his team-mates. Which is perhaps why, when Iyer says he has no intention of changing his personality as India's new T20I captain, you imagine he truly means it.