New Delhi: India will face England in the first T2oI of the five-match series at the Riverside Ground in Chester-Le-Street on Wednesday, July 1. The Men in Blue are hoping to bounce back after an embarrassing series defeat against Ireland, where they lost 2-0. It was Shreyas Iyer’s first assignment as a T20I captain.

However, the Indian team will look to turn things around against the Three Lions. Ahead of the series, Iyer spoke about the support he received from former Indian captains Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav.  

The 31-year-old replaced Suryakumar as the T20I captain after he led India to the T20 World Cup-title in March 2026. He was removed from the leadership and was also dropped from the team due to poor form.   

While speaking to BCCI.tv, Iyer said that interacting with Rohit Sharma felt like having a chat with a brother. Rohit has helped Iyer during his domestic career. He further added that Surya has given him inputs about the management and the players during the series.  

“Interacting with Rohit Sharma, it’s like you are just having a chat with your brother. He is that sort of a figure who has helped me in my domestic career. So it’s always been easy to interact with him,” Iyer said. 

“And Surya, again, similar character, I’ve played with him a lot of domestic cricket and just before coming here he gave me inputs about how the management is going to be, how the players are going to be in this certain situation. So yes, definitely decent interaction and a lot to learn at the same time,” he added.  

Iyer pays heartfelt tribute in Doctor’s Day 

Indian T20I skipper paid a heartfelt tribute to all the doctors who helped him recover from a life-threatening injury which he suffered during the 2025 Australia tour in Sydney. He also acknowledged the medical team who gave him another life and helped him return to the sport he loves.  

“An injury can make you realise how quickly life can change. I am deeply grateful to doctors and medical teams who helped me return to health, strength and the sport I love,” Iyer said.  

India and England squads for T20I series 

India: Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Shreyas Iyer (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Prasidh Krishna, Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube, Abhishek Sharma, Arshdeep Singh, Tilak Varma, Ravi Bishnoi, Suryansh Shedge, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.  

England: Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid, Jos Buttler (wk), Jofra Archer, Luke Wood, Saqib Mahmood, Sam Curran, Phil Salt (wk), Josh Tongue, Harry Brook (c), Tom Banton, Will Jacks, Jordan Cox (wk), James Coles, Jacob Bethell, Rehan Ahmed and Sonny Baker.   

Curated by Shriti Mazumdar