Nottingham [UK], July 8 (ANI): Following a massive 125-run loss to England in the third T20I, Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer expressed that the team’s batting performance was “atrocious” and “unacceptable”, saying that the team needs to go back to the drawing board.
World T20I champions India, just months after completing one of the most invincible runs towards a back-to-back T20 World Cup title back at home, suddenly look to be facing a lot of struggles and their search for their first T20I win under newly-appointed skipper Shreyas Iyer continues. After a shocker 0-2 whitewash against Ireland days back, Team India is now two-nil down in the five-match series, and the best they can do is draw the series.
Their wait for the first series win under Iyer continues, placing some serious questions about the team’s transition after T20WC-winning skipper Suryakumar Yadav was removed from captaincy and lost his place in the team as well, owing to poor batting form.
Speaking after the match, Shreyas said that the wicket was not a 200-score wicket at all, with Phil Salt’s sensational 70 in 44 leading the charge for the Three Lions.
“I think it was atrocious. I couldn’t use a better word, honestly. Losing by such a big margin is definitely not acceptable. First things first, I feel that we need to accept this loss and completely go back to the drawing board and see what we did wrong. Looking at the wicket, I don’t think that it was a 200-wicket, first of all, to start with. But other than that, the way we batted, we lost four (five) wickets in the powerplay. I think that itself created the momentum, and I definitely feel that we lost over there. So, we have got to go back to the drawing board.”
However, looking at the positive side and towards the fourth T20I scheduled for July 9, he said that there is “no need to dwell on the past and players need to think about creating the impact and momentum required from them.” He also said that while chasing 200-plus, there needs to be a set pattern and pace to the run-chase.
Sensational bowling spells from pacers Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue condemned T20 world champions India to a 125-run loss in the third T20I of the five-match series against England at Nottingham on Tuesday.
With this win, England has taken a 2-0 lead in the five-match series, with the first match washed out due to rain. The best India can do is to draw the series. After a shocker series whitewash to Ireland just a few days back, India will have to wait long for their first series win under new T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer and, in fact, is yet to win a match under his captaincy.
India won the toss and opted to bowl first. Phil Salt and Jos Buttler put up a power-packed 43-run opening stand, with pacer Prince Yadav removing Buttler (36 in 21 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes). England then sank to 111/4 in 12 overs, with Prince and Harshit Rana making merry.
However, Salt (70 in 44 balls, with six fours and three sixes) completed a commanding half-century and struck a 47-run stand with Sam Curran, with the latter’s solid 41* in 24 balls, with four boundaries and a seven-ball 14 from Will Jacks with two sixes) taking England to 201/7 in 20 overs.
Prince (2/30) and Harshit (2/40) were among the top bowlers for India, while Axar Patel also got a wicket.
India got off to a decent start and were seeing Abhishek Sharma (10 in seven balls, with a six) and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (13 in five balls, with two sixes) tonk maximums, untill Josh and Jofra sent them both packing, reducing India to 29/2 in 2.4 overs.
From there, it was simply no recovery for India, as they were 52/5 within the powerplay and eventually sank to 76/10 in 11.4 overs. Ishan Kishan (13) and Axar (10) were the other two Indians to touch double digits as Tongue (4/28) and Archer (3/29) dismantled India with their pace, and spinner Adil Rashid also managed to get two wickets.
With his two wickets, Rashid (468 wickets) climbed above former pacer Darren Gough (466 wickets) to become England’s fourth-highest international wicket-taker, while Archer (197 wickets) is nearing the 200-wicket mark in international cricket for England. Rashid (166 wickets) also overtook New Zealand’s Ish Sodhi (165 wickets) to become the second-highest wicket-taker in T20Is, with Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan (193 wickets) at the top.
Archer took the ‘Player of the Match’ award as India suffered their biggest defeat by runs in T20Is. It also marks the longest winless stretch for India in T20Is, who have lost four and faced one no result after lifting the T20 World Cup title earlier this year.
This is also India’s second-lowest all-out T20I total, next to 74 against Australia back in 2008. (ANI)
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