Former India batsman Cheteshwar Pujara has attributed the team’s disappointing T20I trip of England to a lack of middle-order depth, a dearth of good all-rounders, and subpar fielding.
After Harry Brook and company won the fifth and final match in Southampton by 56 runs to secure a historic 4-0 series triumph, India suffered their first-ever bilateral T20I series defeat against England. Additionally, India’s last series versus Ireland ended in a 0-2 loss for the first time.
“England had batters at numbers five, six, seven and eight who contributed. When it comes to India, you had Tilak (Varma) at number five and Shivam Dube at number six, but they haven’t contributed as much as England’s middle order,” PTI quoted Pujara saying on JioHotstar.
“Yes, there is a failure at the top of the order, but India also doesn’t have enough depth when it comes to their all-rounders, and that is a huge concern. The fielding has also been very poor.”
“You can accept that a young side doesn’t perform well with the bat and the ball, but not fielding well is unacceptable. In the shorter format, fielding wins you games. You do make errors sometimes, but throughout the series, India has been very poor in the field, and that’s a big concern.”
Abhishek Nayar, a former assistant coach for India, observed that the Indian batters’ repeated inability to handle short balls throughout the tour was a useful wake-up call.
“This series has been an eye-opener for them. Even when they played in Ireland and now in England, very rarely do you remember in a T20 format where teams have constantly targeted you with short balls. Almost every batter has been targeted with that,” he said.
“It just tells you that England were better prepared than the Indian team and most importantly, India failed to adapt. I think Australian conditions will be different. India has predominantly done well in Australia because the ball actually comes on. There is not a lot of spongy bounce like they’ve felt in England.”
“It’s a good wake-up call. It’s a good reflection of what this team needs to do to win abroad. But I think come the World Cup, you’ll find a more equipped team. And there’ll be a lot of batters who’ll go back and start working on the short ball immediately.”
Nayar also supported Shreyas Iyer, the new captain, saying he should be given more time and responsibility. “When you give someone the mantle of taking over from a champion side, you also want to give him the liberty of picking his side. The first time you become captain, you don’t get the liberty of saying, ‘This is where I want to take the team,” he said.
“You first handle the team and then see what you need to do with it. Post these two series, he’ll have time to reflect, understand what he requires from this team, how he needs them to play and what he needs from the support staff. So, it will be harsh to say that Shreyas Iyer’s future is in jeopardy as a captain.”
Iyer needs the freedom to choose the direction of the T20I team, according to Nayar, who is also the head coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. “It’s been a really hard series, and you can point fingers at Shreyas Iyer, but the more rational thing is to understand what he requires from this team.”
“Give him the ownership of feeling like this is his team, like Harry Brook does right now, Ben Stokes did with the England Test team, or Rohit Sharma did for India when he was the captain, or Virat Kohli did, especially with the Test team.”
“Then it’s a better place to judge him. Even Shubman Gill, when he first became the ODI captain, didn’t win a few series first up. As you get into your own, you build confidence and the team you envision. It’s still early days, there’s no panic button, but there needs to be clarity as to where this team is going.”
On the Indian spinners’ poor form, Nayar said: “Axar Patel has been very successful for India because he could drift the ball back in. But T20 is also about form. When you don’t see that drift, there’s something to do with his action or the amount of cricket he’s played.”
“Axar has bowled so many tough overs now that it’s easy for England to target him. He will come back to form shortly, but India have also not been very consistent with their spinners. Kuldeep Yadav picks up wickets but has been in and out, while Varun Chakaravarthy, with his injury, has had a rough couple of months with the Indian team.”
“Sairaj Bahutule and the support staff need to work with these guys with the future in mind, not discard players. Tell players what you expect from them and where you want them to get better. When you lose, you need to create direction, not chaos.”
