​Worst starts by India men’s T20I captains: where Shreyas Iyer ranks among MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and others. This piece originally appeared on Cricket News. Shreyas Iyer’s leadership has prompted readers to add Cricket News as a preferred source by clicking here. Iyer’s six losses in seven games mark the fastest run of defeats for any India T20I captain. India have also slipped from the number-one T20I ranking and have dropped a second consecutive bilateral series. Around the globe, captains from Pakistan and Bangladesh have faced similarly rough beginnings.
What was meant to signal a fresh chapter for Indian T20 cricket instead turned into one of its most turbulent starts. Succeeding Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer took the helm with hopes of building on India’s World Cup triumph, but the transition has proven far more difficult than anticipated. After six completed matches across tours of Ireland and England, Iyer remains without a win. The latest 56-run defeat in Southampton extended India’s losing streak and cost them the top spot in the T20I team rankings, handing that position to England. They chased a daunting 258 in the fifth T20I for a consolation win, but the chase unraveled through repeated clusters of wickets on what was arguably the best surface of the series.
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The Southampton defeat marked Iyer’s sixth loss in just seven matches as captain, the quickest ever by an Indian skipper to reach that tally. By comparison, Virat Kohli took 12 matches to suffer his fifth defeat; MS Dhoni needed 15; Hardik Pandya required 16. Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav took 31 matches to reach the same mark.
A quick reference to captains and their early records:
– Virender Sehwag (2006): Never lost in his brief stint, with one win in his debut match.
– MS Dhoni (2007–16): In 15 matches, his early five results were 3 wins, 1 loss, 1 no result, including a win by six wickets against South Africa on debut.
– Suresh Raina (2010–11, interim): Never lost in three matches (3–0).
– Ajinkya Rahane (2015, interim): 1 win, 1 loss in two matches.
– Virat Kohli (2017–21): 12 matches to his 5th defeat (3–2).
– Shikhar Dhawan (2021, stand-in): 1 win, 2 losses in three matches.
– Rohit Sharma (2021–24): 31 matches for the first five results (5–0–0).
– Rishabh Pant (2022, stand-in): 2 wins, 2 losses, 1 no result in five matches (vs South Africa; series drawn 2–2–1).
– Hardik Pandya (2022–23): 16 matches with 2 wins to start; full tenure 10 wins, 5 losses, 1 tie in 16.
– KL Rahul (2022): Never lost in his sole match (1–0 vs Afghanistan).
– Jasprit Bumrah (2023): Never lost in two matches (2–0 vs Ireland).
– Ruturaj Gaikwad (2023): Never lost in three matches (2–0–1); Asian Games gold, Hangzhou.
– Suryakumar Yadav (2023–): Beginnings marked by early 2–0 performance for the record as a captain.
Note: This summary reflects the early captaincy records and is intended for context within discussions of India’s T20I leadership tenure. For the latest updates or deeper analysis, refer to Cricket News.