England completely dismantled the Twenty20 cricket Traditionally a powerhouse, India will be faced with a harsh reality as they begin a two-year mission to build a team capable of winning the T20 World Cup again.
The two-time T20 world champions in blue were lethargic in all aspects of the format as England cruised to a 4-0 series win. India conceded over 250 runs for the first time Saturday’s final T20 at Southampton.
Not only did England dominate the Indian Premier League’s big hitters like Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan and newly-crowned captain Shreyas Iyer, but they also crushed the confidence of Harry Brook’s side. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, a 15-year-old genius boy.
After a bumper IPL season this year, the selectors’ roadmap for Suryavanshi’s international debut backfired in a big way. The left-hander was bounced twice by his Rajasthan Royals teammate Jofra Archer and could only score a total of 42 points in three matches.
The shortcomings of this Indian team, which was missing Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and sacked World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav, were very evident when Ireland shocked them with a dream 2-0 win at home ahead of the win in England. Gujarat Titans skipper Shubman Gill has been left out by the selectors but he could now be included in the squad for the upcoming T20 World Cup to be held in Australia and New Zealand.
The aftermath of the series whitewash left India with some less-than-desirable records. India had never lost six consecutive T20 matches. They are unbeaten in 16 T20 series and against England it was the first time they lost in a bilateral series of more than two matches.
While India’s three openers struggled throughout the series, the mid-order seemed to lack clarity, with constant shuffling between No. 5 and No. 8 in the batting lineup. Left-handed Tilak Varma scored a lot of runs in Asian conditions, but he only scored 104 runs, including a half-century in the final match.
“I think we’ve talked a lot about adaptability, but I think we’re at a point where we actually have to unpack our suitcases,” India assistant coach Ryan 10 Dochate said after India’s fourth-match loss against Bristol.
“It’s easy to say you need to adapt. You need to assess and adapt. All under-nine cricket coaches say that about every department of the game. We’re now at a stage where we need to really figure out what that means and understand the process we need to go through to adapt, so to speak.”
The batting coach said India has to accept the fact that the team underperforms in foreign environments and have the mentality to adjust how to excel in different environments.
“Do we want to be a great team, doing the 250m in India and hitting the 80m six at Eden Gardens? Or do we want to come to a place like this, a place like Manchester or Southampton, where the situation is a little different?”
“And then again, thinking even further down the road, with the MCG and places like that, do we actually want to be a good team in different situations and do we have the mentality to make those adjustments? And that’s the mental challenge and that’s what we need our players to be up to.”
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