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India’s new T20I captain Shreyas Iyer couldn’t have asked for a worse start to his captaincy journey. After taking over the captaincy from Suryakumar Yadav, Iyer’s first assignment ended in complete disappointment as Ireland defeated India 2-0 in the two-match T20I series.
This whitewash has shocked the entire cricket world. Before this tour, India had never lost a T20 match to Ireland. But that record was broken and Ireland created history by winning both the matches. Manoj Tiwari raised questions from Gautam Gambhir after the defeat in Ireland series
Sunil Gavaskar calls Ireland defeat one of the worst moments of Indian cricket
Reacting to the embarrassing defeat in the T20 series, former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar said that it was one of the most disappointing days of Indian cricket. He said that losing matches is a part of the game, but losing the series to Ireland is more painful because it was expected that India would dominate.
Gavaskar believes that the biggest reason behind India’s defeat was not Ireland playing exceptional cricket but the touring team making things easy for the hosts. He said that many batsmen appeared overconfident and played careless shots instead of understanding the demands of the match.
Sunil Gavaskar, in his column for Sportstar, wrote: “Sunday, June 28, will go down as one of the worst days of Indian cricket. Losing a game of cricket is one thing, but losing a series, even a two-match series, also depends on who you lose to.
“There have been many shortcomings in Indian cricket, and I have been a part of some of them, but losing to Ireland is one of the lowest in the history of Indian cricket. If Ireland had played exceptional cricket, it would have lessened the blow. It was only a sense of overconfidence and carelessness that let India down, and that is why it is sad.”
Sunil Gavaskar compares India’s show with 1983 World Cup final
The great batsman also compared India’s approach to the famous 1983 ODI World Cup final. In that historic match, the Indian bowlers bowled smart, tight lines and lengths and then Kapil Dev took an excellent and game-changing catch to get rid of Viv Richards.
The powerful team of West Indies lost against India due to overconfidence while chasing a small target. Gavaskar believes that the Indian batsmen made a similar mistake against Ireland.
“When you look at the dismissals of the West Indies batsmen, you will see the same overconfidence and carelessness that we saw from the Indian batsmen in both the matches against Ireland,” he said. Meanwhile, Jay Shah’s ICC reveals the road to LA 2028 Olympics, with India the first team to qualify.
Indian batsmen failed to understand the conditions: Gavaskar
The former Indian captain also pointed out that the Irish pitches have extra bounce and movement for the fast bowlers. Sunil Gavaskar believes that the Indian batsmen could not adjust to those conditions and tried to play big shots too early and lost their wickets.
Sunil Gavaskar said, “Playing according to the conditions is an important aspect of any game, especially cricket, but almost all the Indian batsmen tried to live up to their image and, on pitches that had a little extra bounce and bounce, they found themselves out very easily by some good catches coupled with smart bowling.”
