India, Nov. 12 -- It's already been a year of plenty for Shreyas Iyer, and it's only going to get better on Friday.

Out of favour for two and a half years in the Twenty20 International format, Shreyas made a dramatic comeback to the shortest version this June, as the captain of the national team, no less. His claims steadfastly overlooked despite a mountain of IPL runs for Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders and then Punjab Kings, Shreyas became an automatic choice once those in high decision-making positions decided that it was time to look beyond Suryakumar Yadav and begin the process of planning for the 2028 T20 World Cup in earnest.

Shreyas became an almost automatic, obvious choice to succeed Suryakumar, despite his long internat...