Mumbai: After India’s 125-run defeat to England at Nottingham, Gautam Gambhir was asked in the press conference to respond to five losses on the bounce after the World Cup win. Before the question could be completed, the Indian head coach snapped back matter-of-factly, “four.” The first of the 5-match series against England had been rained out after India posted 189.
Gambhir was being his usual boorish self with the media. Suryakumar Yadav might have been more playful with his answers but somewhere their contrasting personalities somehow clicked. In the last T20 cycle that concluded with the World Cup win, the Indian team with the duo in charge did not lose a single bilateral series.
The four recent losses suggest India’s restart has met an early roadblock. Shreyas Iyer, still searching for his first win as captain, called the cricket his team played in Nottingham “atrocious.” India are now required to win the remaining two T20Is to level the series, Gambhir and Iyer’s team talk to stage a turnaround could be an early marker of how their partnership shapes up.
It’s been a difficult initiation for Iyer as captain with the pitches and ground dimensions – both in Ireland and England – being far different from the IPL prototype. Not to forget, India’s squad composition and their playing doctrine are based on IPL success. It is now expected from the same bunch of players to show they can be adaptable too.
If Ireland pacers mixed up their pace and forced Indian batters to play square on the long boundaries, England’s quick bowlers Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue hit hard lengths on the Nottingham pitch which had more life. Indian batters were bounced out, they were blown away. Unless they improve, they run the risk of being bracketed as flat-track bullies. That wouldn’t sit well in a World Cup cycle that will culminate with the marquee event in Australia and New Zealand.
“I think that it is important to assess the conditions, no doubt about that. But it is also important how to read the game,” Gambhir said. “It’s a small thing, but the breeze can play a huge part as well. Sometimes one side where the dimensions are much bigger than the other side…that is important as well. So these small-small things in a T20 game can make a huge difference.”
The standout feature of India’s T20 setup over the past cycle has been their aggressive starts. Gambhir was quick to reiterate they would stick to their guns. In fact, India has attempted to double down on early intent by replacing Sanju Samson with Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, who has a potentially higher ceiling.
In the two matches they have played together as openers, Sooryavanshi and Abhishek Shama have registered partnerships of 29-ball 50 and 11-ball 23 runs. Whether the Indian coaching staff can manage to get more out of the two explosive left-handers without taking the sting out of their strokeplay would be crucial.
Sooryavanshi knows by now that his IPL teammate Archer is going to cramp him for room and go short. How he responds to the challenge will be the next stage in his development as an international player.
“When everyone in a batting line-up starts playing high risk, high reward, sometimes these things can happen,” Gambhir said about being 76 all-out in the Nottingham T20I. “Probably the middle order, the experienced guys who have played enough international cricket, need to adapt and play according to the situation as well.”
The head coach may be pinning the blame on the newly appointed leadership duo – captain Iyer and vice captain Tilak Varma. While Iyer has gifted his wickets twice with loose strokes, Varma’s problems may be deeper. His slow starts against spin tend to force his hand to counter-attack. On occasions when he fails to make amends to push up the scoring rate, that pushes the team back.
There’s also a structural flaw in India’s batting line-up: six of the seven batters are left-handers. It’s a problem India managed to fix mid-way through the World Cup by bringing back Samson at the top.
Although Gambhir spoke about the door being open for Samson to return, the possibility of that happening is only if he is asked to bat at No. 3 with Kishan going down two spots to No. 5. That may force Varma out of the side. Such a call may have to be handled delicately in a squad where some major changes after the World Cup may have already led to insecurity breeding in.
