India’s ODI vice-captain Shreyas Iyer has started getting ready for IPL 2026, which is likely to begin on March 26. The Mumbai batter is not part of India’s squad for the ongoing T20 World Cup 2026. His last T20I match for India was in December 2023 against Australia.
Earlier this year, Shreyas was added to India’s T20I squad for the New Zealand series as a replacement for Tilak Varma, but he did not get a chance to play. Before that, he featured in three ODIs against New Zealand, scoring 60 runs in total as India lost the series 2-1.
Shreyas is set to captain Punjab Kings in the IPL. On Thursday, February 19, he shared pictures and videos from his net session on Instagram, where he played several stylish shots. He added a caption to the post as well.
“Locked in.”
Talking about his IPL record, the 31-year-old has played 133 matches and batted in 132 innings, scoring 3,731 runs. He averages 34.22 and has a strike rate of 133.34. He has scored 27 half-centuries, with his highest score being an unbeaten 97.
Iyer-Led PBKS Narrowly Miss Out on IPL 2025 Trophy
IPL 2025 was Shreyas Iyer’s first season with Punjab Kings (PBKS), and he guided the team to only their second-ever final. However, they couldn’t win their first title, losing to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by six runs while chasing 191 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Now, PBKS will aim to go one step further and finally lift the trophy. Iyer has plenty of experience as a captain, having led a team in 87 IPL matches and winning 50 of them. He will be hoping to win his second IPL title as captain, after previously lifting the trophy with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in 2024.
Here is the full PBKS squad for IPL 2026: Shreyas Iyer (c), Shashank Singh, Prabhsimran Singh, Priyansh Arya, Nehal Wadhera, Marcus Stoinis, Azmatullah Omarzai, Marco Jansen, Lockie Ferguson, Yuzvendra Chahal, Harpreet Brar, Arshdeep Singh, Musheer Khan, Pyala Avinash, Harnoor Pannu, Suryansh Shedge, Mitchell Owen, Xavier Bartlett, Vyshak Vijaykumar, Yash Thakur, Vishnu Vinod, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Praveen Dubey, and Vishal Nishad.
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