Pundits and former players on Saturday highlighted India’s struggles with the bat after the Twenty20 World Cup champions suffered back-to-back series defeats against England and Ireland.
England beat India by 56 runs in the fifth and final T20I at Southampton, with the hosts sealing a 4-0 series victory after the opening match ended in a draw due to rain. The series defeat came after Ireland completed a 2-0 T20 shutout last month.
Player-turned-commentator Dinesh Karthik said India’s batting unit looked out of sync throughout the tour.
“I think India is finding it difficult to adjust to a little extra bounce,” he told cricket news site Cricbuzz.
“The middle order looks shaky, unconfident, and it’s definitely not the Indian team we saw during the World Cup or before in the bilateral series, where they beat their opponents and actually imposed a lot of fear. Where did that go?”
Indian captain Shreyas Iyer said their inability to adapt to the different conditions cost them dearly in the series.
“We kept going from venue to venue and we kept facing challenges, especially in terms of dimensions, pitches, conditions, just to adapt to it as quickly as we could have anticipated. That didn’t happen,” Iyer, who was named T20I captain in June, told reporters.
Indian great Sunil Gavaskar said the team’s batting had concerns throughout the series.
“I believe the batting really needs to come to the party, because the batting is the strongest part of this Indian team, and if the strongest part is you know you are not doing well, then no wonder it has an effect on your game as well as your catches,” he added.
Commentator Harsha Bhogle said the defeat could be a wake-up call for India.
“Essentially England beat India by playing a style that India thought was theirs,” he said. “If India is willing to look at this outcome as something that exposed its fissures, a lot of good can come from it.”
India will then play three one-day internationals (ODIs) against England starting on Tuesday.
