Shreyas Iyer’s first assignment as India’s T20I captain started on a tough note, with the Men in Blue losing two consecutive matches against Ireland. He replaced Suryakumar Yadav, who not only led India to the 2026 T20 World Cup title but was superb as a skipper in bilateral series. Iyer was expected to take the team forward, but he failed to deliver as a leader and batter, with critics questioning his acumen in the shortest format of the game.
The batters and bowlers were below-par in the series opener on June 26, while the willow holders were found wanting in the second game on Sunday.
The T20 World Champions couldn’t chase 183 and fell short by 34 runs. In the second encounter, they managed 153 for 9 in a chase of 155. The top order crumbled under pressure in both outings.
Iyer heaped massive praise on the Irish team and his bowlers, but lambasted the contributions of the batters.
“It was not a great series for us. Kudos to Ireland for the way they played. They showed professionalism and had a tremendous idea of how the wicket was going to play. They played according to the situation. I feel our bowlers were phenomenal with their execution, but we fell short in analysing how the wicket played while we batted,” he said.
Shreyas will be under pressure in the five-match T20I series against England starting July 1. He will have to sit down with head coach Gautam Gambhir to stop the slide and lead the team to winning ways.
The decision-makers will also think about giving a debut to in-form 15-year-old batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who was not considered for selection, considering the presence of Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma.
With Samson’s failure in two matches, the youngster is in line to play against the Harry Brook-led team.
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