Shreyas Iyer has come under increasing pressure after a difficult start to his stint as India's T20I captain. Since taking over the role, he has yet to register his first victory, with defeats to Ireland and England raising questions over the team's performance. Iyer, who was not part of India's last two T20 World Cup-winning squads, earned the captaincy after building an impressive leadership record in the IPL. He guided Delhi Capitals, Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings to IPL finals, lifting the title with Kolkata. Those achievements created high expectations, but his international captaincy has yet to produce the same success, with India still searching for answers after a disappointing run of results.
Former India wicketkeeper batter Dinesh Karthik also questioned Iyer's post-match remarks, saying it was unusual for a captain to publicly criticise his own batting unit so strongly after the defeat. Karthik felt the language used by the India skipper reflected the frustration within the camp following another disappointing batting display.
"Yes, India did not bat well. Probably one of the worst batting performances in a long time. But it was interesting, maybe odd, you can say, for the captain to come quite hard at the batting unit. He used the word atrocious to describe their batting, he used the word awful as well," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
Since taking over the captaincy, Shreyas has also struggled with the bat. In his last five innings, he has managed just one half-century, and that knock came in a match that was eventually washed out. He was unable to make an impact in the 202-run chase against England as well, departing for just five runs.
Meanwhile, the former wicketkeeper also threw his support behind Shreyas, saying the India captain's frustration was understandable given the recent results. However, Karthik stressed that Iyer remains a vital part of the batting line-up and said India's fortunes would improve once the skipper starts contributing consistently with the bat.
"You could see how disgruntled, a little bit upset he was, and he must be angry, understandably so, but knowing Shreyas Iyer, he has to come back because he is such a key member in that batting unit, that if he scores, the team looks different, as well have seen with PBKS (Punjab Kings). He is such a critical component to this batting order as well," Karthik added.
“What's happening to Team India?”
Reflecting on India's recent struggles, Karthik admitted he was surprised by the team's sharp decline in form. The former wicketkeeper-batter questioned how the reigning world champions had slipped into such a poor run and felt India should have been capable of chasing down the target despite the conditions.
"What's happening to Team India? Four of the last five matches have been lost, we are the world champions at the moment. The pitch was probably a little slow, but you expected 200 to be the par score, but we felt India, could have, should have chased that down," he added.