Even with that long pause, the selectors still handed him the captaincy of the world’s top-ranked T20 side. He took over from a close friend, his state teammate, and also from a skipper who never lost a T20I series or tournament as India’s captain. And, on top of it all, he was put in charge of the defending T20 World Cup champions.

So, yeah, this was never going to be a smooth, easy responsibility. Naturally the expectations stayed sky high. India’s surprising series defeat against Ireland only made it worse, the pressure rose, particularly after Iyer couldn’t score in his first series as captain. Again, he found himself right in the crosshairs of heavy criticism. Even his call to not include the young talent Vaibhav Sooryavanshi became a big talking point. As India got ready for the opening T20I against England, everyone was watching their new captain. But this time, Iyer, for once answered his critics.

In the first T20I at Durham, Iyer sort of justified the trust placed in him . He played with a bit of that maturity you’d expect from an experienced batter and he led from the front as captain. While he is mostly known for controlling the middle overs, Iyer also has the knack to reset things, and rebuild an innings after those early wobbles . He proved that, right after walking in when India were struggling at 6/2 right at the end of the second over.

Abhishek Sharma went after the bowlers from one end, whereas Iyer kept it calmer and worked on building the innings. He struck a few neat inside-out shots early , but his scoring rate stayed consistent, and he reached 39 from his first 30 deliveries. Still, saying his innings was only about that phase would be a bit unfair, honestly.

The pitch was kinda far from great for free-flowing stroke play. Abhishek hit a quick half century ,but a few other batters still couldn’t make run-scoring easy in those early overs. In England though, you basically have to do it differently , because the ball keeps shifting around and is helping the fast bowlers for long stretches of the innings. Also , Iyer hadn’t played T20Is for India in a while. He needed some quality time in the middle, so he first took a steadier pace , before switching gears later on.

After facing just 38 balls , Shreyas Iyer got to his maiden T20I fifty as captain. Then he piled on 18 runs in his next eight deliveries, and it felt like he was gearing up for a proper explosive finish. He tried to push against Saqib Mahmood, went for yet another big swing, and it ended with him losing his wicket.

Still, the innings arrived at the right moment for Iyer. He really wanted confidence at the start of this series. That 68 was also a milestone, because he became the first Indian captain to reach a T20I half-century in England. The old mark was Virat Kohli’s 47 at Cardiff in 2018. And yep , this was only Iyer’s second white-ball innings in England, and he’s still waiting to play his first ODI there as well.

Highest T20I score by Indian captain in England: