India might have lost the T20I series against Ireland and England, but former India batter and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar believes Shreyas Iyer‘s future as the captain is not in “jeopardy”. The right-handed batter Iyer took over the reins as the T20I captain from World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav, and was expected to make the team a more formidable lineup. However, the reality turned out to be completely different as India were given a hard reality check.
India lost 2-0 against Ireland, and the embarrassing loss was followed by a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of the Three Lions. The BCCI has already stated that a review would be conducted and the tough questions would be asked of the team management.
However, Nayar believes that the losses against England would give Iyer time to reflect, and he would come out better from this experience in his first assignment as the Indian captain.
“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.’ You first handle the team and then see what you need to do with it,” Nayar said on JioHotstar’s ‘Match Centre Live’.
“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,” he added.
Nayar, the current head coach of the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL, also said that Iyer needs support and that clarity is the need of the hour if the Indian team wants to return to winning ways.
“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, as 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,” said Nayar.
“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,” he added.
‘Give clarity’
The T20I losses against Ireland and England was majorly down to poor batting performance and the poor display with the ball by the spinners. Nayar believes that the newly-appointed spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutule has a lot of work to do.
“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,” said Nayar.
“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,” he added.
