Pundits and former players highlighted India’s struggles with the bat on Saturday after the 20 World Cup champions suffered back-to-back series defeats by England and Ireland.
England beat India by 56 runs in the fifth and final T20I in Southampton, with the hosts sealing a 4-0 series win after the opener ended in a no due to rain. That series defeat came after Ireland completed a 2-0 T20 whitewash last month.
Player-turned-commentator Dinesh Karthik said India’s batting unit had looked out of rhythm throughout the tour.
“I think that India have a problem adjusting to a little bit of extra bounce,” he told cricket news site Cricbuzz.
“The middle order looks shaky, not confident and it’s certainly not the Indian team that we saw during the World Cup or before that in bilateral series where they took opponents down and actually instilled a lot of fear. Where has it gone?”
India captain Shreyas Iyer said their failure to adapt to different conditions had cost them in the series.
“We kept going from one venue to another and we kept facing challenges, especially in terms of the dimensions, the grounds, the conditions, just to adapt to it as quickly as we might have expected. It didn’t happen,” Iyer, who was named T20I captain in June, told reporters.
India great Sunil Gavaskar said the team’s batting had had concerns throughout the series.
“I believe that batting should really come to the party because batting is the strongest part of this Indian team and if the strongest part is that you don’t do it well, then no wonder it has an effect on your bowling as well as your catching,” he added.
Commentator Harsha Bhogle said the defeat could be a wake up call for India.
“Essentially, England have beaten India with a style that India thought was theirs,” he said. “If India are willing to look at this result as something that has shone a light on their cracks, a lot of good can come of it.”
India will next play three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) against England starting on Tuesday.
