Shreyas Iyer after taking charge as T20I captain, India is yet to win a match, with a series loss against Ireland and two defeats during the ongoing series against England. The frustration is showing during his post-match interviews, especially after the third match where he criticised his own batting unit.
Former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik also found Shreyas’ post-match remarks quite unusual where he publicly blasted the batters after India were bowled out for their lowest-ever T20I score. Karthik felt this reflected the frustration in the India camp after suffering a heavy 125-run defeat.
“Yes, India did not bat well. Probably one of the worst batting performances in a long time. But it was interesting, maybe odd, you can say, for the captain to come quite hard at the batting unit. He used the word atrocious to describe their batting, he used the word awful as well,” Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Shreyas has also been struggling for runs since taking over the captaincy. In his last five innings, he has scored just one half-century, and that came in a match that was eventually washed out. In the third T20I against England, he failed to make an impact, scoring only five runs as India were bowled out for 76 while chasing England’s 202.
Karthik, however, backed Shreyas and said the captain’s frustration was understandable after India’s poor run of results. He added that Shreyas remains one of the team’s most important batters and believes India’s performances will improve once the skipper returns to form.
“You could see how disgruntled, a little bit upset he was, and he must be angry, understandably so. But knowing Shreyas Iyer, he will bounce back because he is such a key member of this batting unit. When he scores runs, the team looks completely different, as we’ve seen with Punjab Kings. He is a critical part of this batting order as well,” Karthik said.
Karthik also admitted he was surprised by India’s recent slump in form. The former wicketkeeper-batter questioned how the reigning T20 World Cup champions had lost four of their last five matches and said he expected them to chase down England’s target despite the challenging conditions.
“What’s happening to Team India? We’ve lost four of the last five matches, and we are the world champions. The pitch was probably a little slow, but 200 looked like a par score. Even then, we felt India could have, and should have, chased that target down,” he added.
