Shreyas Iyer, who has been named as India’s new T20I captain, said he is looking forward to the challenge of leading India after he replaced Suryakumar Yadav at the helm. Iyer said he would not need to change his personality and live under someone’s shadow.

The Mumbai cricketer has a great captaincy record in the IPL and he would look to get the best out of his players. Iyer led KKR to glory in IPL 2024 and also led Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings to the final of the tournament in 2020 and 2025, respectively.

The newly appointed skipper is known for astute leadership, and he would look to hit the ground running.

“I obviously loved challenges growing up, especially being from Mumbai where cricket is pretty big, the competition is high, every other kid on the street, they want to represent Mumbai asnd I faced a lot of challenges growing up. So my mindset was always about winning against everyone that I challenge. Whether it’s about learning or winning, that’s secondary but the more fun you have growing up, the more competitive nature you have, especially while playing cricket or any other sport in general, I think that takes you to another level and you want to take that sort of responsibility even when I have got this job right now or responsibility as a captain,” Iyer said in a PTI video.

“It’s a great challenge (and) at the same time, I don’t have to change my personality. I have to be the same person how I was before and not try to be someone else or be under someone’s shadow,” he added.

India will play two T20Is against Ireland and five T20Is against England in July.