India’s first Twenty20 International outing after lifting the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Americas ended in a crushing defeat to an unfancied opponent. History repeated itself last week as they courted a similar result in their first fixture after successfully defending the world crown at home this March.
Nearly two years earlier, in July, a second-string outfit led by Shubman Gill went down by 13 runs to Sikandar Raza’s team at the Harare Sports Club. Fear not, said the intrepid bunch; Abhishek Sharma made up for a four-ball duck on debut with a stunning century in game two, the catalyst for what in the end was a commanding 4-1 score line that reiterated that defeat in game one was an aberration.
Last Friday, India surrendered their unbeaten record against Ireland in the most unedifying of manners, slumping to a 34-run humbling in Belfast. It was the worst imaginable start to Shreyas Iyer’s new avatar as India’s T20I captain, a comedown from the highs of the IPL for stars weaned on terrific batting strips. The conditions at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Stormont were demanding, arduous, anything but ideal for unfettered ball-striking. India were found desperately wanting despite being at full strength from a batting perspective as a target of 183 proved well beyond them.
It happens, everyone said. You can sometimes be fixed by alien conditions. The opposition is allowed one terrific game, you are allowed one poor day in office, especially because as a team, the Indians had gathered together for the first time in more than three and a half months. Not an excuse, because Ireland outplayed them, but you could see some rationale behind what was indisputably a horror outcome.
But a la Harare and 2024, there were no comebacks this time. India conceded Sunday’s second T20I too, admittedly by only a solitary run, as a proud record came to a juddering halt. An unbeaten streak encompassing 16 series spread over three years in the most unpredictable and unforgiving of formats was snapped ruthlessly by an honest Irish side that made capital of its familiarity with the conditions, though more than anyone else, one suspects, the Irish themselves would have been surprised at home tamely India’s famed batting line-up capitulated.
Ryan ten Doeschate, India’s refreshingly honest and forthcoming assistant coach, spoke of ‘disbelief’ within the camp after Sunday’s tense finish. He stressed the need to adapt, and adapt quickly, when the team travels to Europe and to other parts of the world where seam can be a major factor. He pointed to the smarts the Irish displayed, silently bemoaning the lack of the same from his wards.
This was supposed to be the teasing appetiser before the sumptuous main course, which will unfold on Wednesday when India lock horns with England in the first of five T20Is. But the appetiser has left a bitter taste in the mouth and left Gautam Gambhir, the beleaguered head coach, with a fresh headache that he must find a solution to in double quick time.
Sanju Samson is bowled by Jai Moondra during the first T20I.
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Gambhir has overseen three excellent white-ball title-winning runs – at the Champions Trophy in March 2025 and the T20 Asia Cup that same September, both in Dubai, and at the home T20 World Cup earlier this year. But he has also been the central figure in unprecedented Test series routs at home against New Zealand in late 2024 and South Africa 12 months thereafter. When it comes to the Test squad, he alternates between the word ‘transition’ and ‘inexperience’. He bristles at players only eight and ten Tests young being (unfairly) judged and bares his fangs at the slightest perception of criticism. But the numbers are stacking up against him. And cricket, more than any other sport, is a game of numbers.
Between the two T20 World Cups in 2024 and 2026, India lost just six out of 41 matches, a grand result considering that like now, they had a new captain. Rohit Sharma’s retirement after the 2024 edition ushered Suryakumar Yadav into the job; the axe falling on the latter despite him leading his unit to the 2026 crown has thrust Shreyas into the hot seat. It will be unfair, to borrow from Gambhir, to judge the youngest of the trio of Mumbaikars to have led the T20I side in the last few years on the back of just one series, and that too given that India had very little time to get used to environs that they are reasonably unfamiliar with. But Shreyas will be mindful that he himself managed just 3 and 10 on his comeback to the T20I mix, and that will hurt him immensely because he is a firm believer in the ‘leading from the front’ philosophy.
Let’s not grudge Ireland their moment of unmatched glory. They have produced stunning upsets, not least at the 2011 50-over World Cup when a magical century from Kevin O’Brien pulled the rug from under England’s feet in Bengaluru. But this will take precedence, one suspects, even though it came in what was a regular bilateral series – inasmuch as any series involving India can be termed ‘regular’. They were blithely expected to be lambs to the slaughter, to roll over without much resistance. But we should have known better. Ireland don’t surrender, they don’t throw in the towel. They are spirited, sure, but they are also very skilful and supremely self-confident. They leave nothing behind in the change room, and win or lose, they are content when they know that they have given it their all. This time, their ‘all’ translated to an epochal 2-0 sweep against the World Cup winners and the No. 1 team in the world which had all its batting guns to fall back on, and with one of the most destructive modern-day weapons watching on from the dugout.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi needs no introduction, not anymore, not after his spectacular deeds at the Under-19 World Cup and in the IPL and during the triangular ‘A’ series in Sri Lanka. At 15, he is already making heads turn, forcing people to reach for their remotes when he takes guard, delighting his millions of fans and sending chills and shivers down the spines of the most celebrated active bowlers in world cricket. The temptation to unleash this man-child beast must be immense, but ten Doeschate was emphatic in stating that like everyone else, the precociously unique talent must go through the processes and bide his time. That there will be no special treatment, no matter how special he is.
That’s part of the learning process, the growing-up stage, though with each passing failure for Sanju Samson or Ishan Kishan or both – two of the more influential cogs during the World Cup campaign, Samson the more feted for match-winning knocks in the last three matches but Kishan no less impactful – the clamour for Sooryavanshi’s much awaited debut will gather pace.
Let’s just hit the pause button and remember that he is 15. Fifteen. That he should not be – never mind that he is yet to make his maiden appearance – expected to carry the Indian batting on his strong and sturdy but very, very young shoulders. Let’s not transpose our expectations onto him, let’s not compare him with Sachin Tendulkar because hey, how silly is that? The teen phenom will be desperate to make his first India appearance – which cricketer worth his salt wouldn’t? – not so much because it will be another feather in his already overcrowded cap but because he genuinely loves playing and putting on a show. But he will learn the virtues of patience and being treated as just another player, which should stand him in grand stead in the long run.
Chastened by the Ireland humbling orchestrated by a software engineer from our own Tonk in Rajasthan, India will know the magnitude of the task that awaits them in England. Jai Moondra, a strapping 29-year-old who moved to Dublin in 2021 to pursue a master’s degree in electronics and communication, still holds an Indian passport but did the country of his birth no favours, exposing an old Indian kryptonite – left-arm pace. Five wickets in his first two appearances for his adopted country, and the Player of the Series honours, is a high Moondra will soar on, deservedly and understandably, for a long time to come.
India will have arrived in England on Monday to blaring headlines about Ben Stokes’ dramatic, sudden but almost inevitable retirement from international cricket following his latest dalliance with infamy. Stokes’ announcement was the most visceral on a Sunday of high-octane cricketing entertainment in the British Isles. The Indian men’s loss to Ireland came around the same time that the women were eliminated from the T20 World Cup after going down to Australia in their must-win final league tie at Lord’s. Over in Nottingham, around the Stokes headline act, England and New Zealand were in a pitched battle for series honours and World Test Championship points.
India’s most recent 20-over skirmish with England itself was not devoid of thrills and tension and agony and ecstasy. A total of 253 in the World Cup semifinal in Mumbai in March seemed inadequate when Jacob Bethell put on an exhibition, simultaneously sparking awe and dread among Indian spectators. India needed the genius of Jasprit Bumrah to come away unscathed, by the hair-raising margin of just seven runs, but there is no Bumrah now – rested – and therefore it will be incumbent on the rest of the bowlers to step up.
The returning Harshit Rana showcased his combativeness in Ireland and Prince Yadav was impressive on his debut, suggesting that with Arshdeep Singh now in the role of the lead enforcer, the pace bowling is in pretty good hands. It’s the lack of batting form that will trouble Shreyas, Gambhir and the rest of the leadership group. Against singularly attack-minded teams like England, India have historically relied on their batting strength to bail them out. Now, that strength has become a temporary weakness. What corrective measures are put in place in a very straitjacketed time-frame remains to be seen. But these measures are imperative because otherwise, Harry Brook and embattled coach Brendon McCullum’s England, themselves feeling no little heat, will feast on them with ill-concealed glee.
