Leading a team from the front and rising through Mumbai cricket are never easy, but based on Shreyas Iyer’s stellar IPL captaincy record in recent years, former India Test skipper Rohit Sharma thinks the Mumbai batter is well-suited to succeed in the position.
With the three-time World Cup winners pressing reset to their T20 leadership with important duties like this year’s Asia Cup and the 2028 Olympics and T20 World Cup in mind, Shreyas was hailed as the new Indian captain in the shortest format while Suryakumar Yadav was removed from the squad.
According to Rohit, Shreyas would have the necessary experience for the Indian captaincy position thanks to his IPL captaincy, where he won the 2024 title with Kolkata Knight Riders and guided Punjab Kings to the final in 2025.
“I’m sure looking at how he has captained in the last few years for his franchise, he’s going to have a good time,” Rohit, the brand ambassador of the T20 Mumbai League, was quoted as saying by PTI in Mumbai on Saturday.
Shreyas would understand that captaincy is a title that must be earned, but Rohit, who led India to their second T20 World Cup victory in 2024, stated that nothing comes easily for a Mumbai cricketer.
“Look, playing in Mumbai, representing Mumbai teaches you a lot of things. If you ask anyone who has captained India or Mumbai before us, they’ll tell you the same thing. Nothing comes easy here. I’m pretty sure it’s the same elsewhere as well. But here – I’m just talking about Mumbai – nothing comes easy.
“You have to really earn it so captaincy is also something that you have to earn and earn the respect of people around you and that is something that all these guys have it,” he said.
Additionally, Rohit praised Suryakumar’s tenure as India’s captain, which culminated in the team’s record-breaking third T20 World Cup victory earlier this year.
“I’m pretty sure nothing has come easy, especially for Surya. He made his India debut at 30 or 31, if I’m not wrong, which means that he never gave up. He always wanted to be in the fight and when it came, he wanted to grab it with both hands, and he did it,” Rohit said.
