Former Indian opener Kris Srikkanth has questioned the selectors’ decision to remove Axar Patel as vice-captain again for the upcoming T20I series against Ireland and England. While Suryakumar Yadav, who led India to T20 World Cup glory, has been left of the squad, Shreyas Iyer has been handed over the T20I captaincy.

Tilak Varma has been named as Iyer’s deputy for seven T20Is in the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Patel was removed as India’s vice-captain when Shubman Gill was included in the squad in 2025. When Gill was dropped for the T20 World Cup, Patel was once again appointed as the team’s vice-captain.

Srikkanth said on his YouTube Channel, “Axar Patel was the vice-captain of the T20 World Cup-winning team, and he is still in the team. How did you look past him and go for Tilak Varma as vice-captain? I can’t understand the logic behind this move. Tilak Varma hasn’t even captained a side in the IPL, whereas Axar Patel has been captaining the Delhi Capitals.”

“Tilak Varma didn’t have a deadly IPL either. He played a few good knocks but wasn’t consistent. It’s stunning that he was made vice-captain straightaway.”

Varma scored 359 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2026 at an average of 29.92 and a strike rate of 145.93.

On the other hand, the 1983 World Cup winning player questioned the selectors for including Washington Sundar in the T20I squad.

“Washington Sundar doesn’t deserve a place in the team. He doesn’t even bowl for GT and is playing as a middle-order batter. So he is a stand-by middle-order batter for India as he’s not bowling at all. He doesn’t bowl for GT and rarely bowls even for India. So it’s a question mark as to how Sundar is a certainty in the side as an all-rounder,” said Srikkanth (via the aforementioned source).

Sundar scored 377 runs in 16 innings in IPL 2026.