Team India’s continued poor performance in England has evidently shaken the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and now they have confirmed that they will conduct a review of the team’s recent performance in Ireland and England. However, it will involve the core members of the team as well.
“We will have a review meeting with the core members of the team to discuss what went wrong in England,” BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said.
Notably, India have lost back-to-back T20I series – first in Ireland and then in England as well. The team faced its first-ever series defeat to Ireland and also suffered the heaviest T20I defeat against England in the third match at Trent Bridge with one game in hand (on July 11).
“The BCCI is currently observing the performance of the Indian T20 team which has not been up to the mark in the ongoing series against England. However this is not something abnormal and can happen in international cricket. We consider it as a purely bad phase,” Saikia, currently in Edinburgh, Scotland, for the annual conference of the International Cricket Council (ICC), said.
However, Team India are the defending champions in the T20 format, having lifted the title this year. But the players have struggled to adapt to overseas conditions. The much-celebrated debut of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi didn’t work either, as the youngster returned scores of 14, 13, and 15 in his first three international matches as well.
“Since there is an ODI series, we are hoping that the team will be back in good form” – Devajit Saikia
Moreover, India are yet to win a game under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, who replaced Suryakumar Yadav after the World Cup as well. Of the six games under his captaincy, India have lost five, with one ending in a no result.
However, this is the first time England have beaten India in a bilateral T20I series of two or more games as well. India’s last two defeats in a bilateral series against England (any format) had come way back in 2018 (by 2-1 in ODIs and by 4-1 in Tests).
“The review meeting will be strictly about the team’s performance and how to address the shortcomings. Nothing else will be discussed,” the BCCI secretary said.
However, the T20Is will be followed by three ODIs where legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be featured.
“Since there is an ODI series, we are hoping that the team will be back in good form,” Saikia concluded. “Once the ODI series gets over on July 19 and the team comes back, we will have a review meeting.”
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