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Is the lack of bonding with 'outsider' Shreyas Iyer the reason behind India's dismal show in the UK?
If not entirely, it can be one of the reasons. In the lead-up to the UK tour, there wasn't enough time for the team members to pal up with the new captain.
The Indian T20I cricket team has started looking all of a sudden so fallible. It's hard to believe this team won the T20 World Cup just a few months ago and is the world's number one bunch in the format. A few bad games in England can be understandable, but losing to Ireland in back-to-back contests is something not easy to swallow, even though it's been several days since the embarrassment.
One of the problems could be the lack of bonding between the players and the new captain, Shreyas Iyer. Normally, when a captain is removed, the new captain is more often than not a regular and the team's best performer. It could be a vice-captain or another player. Instead of going for the time-honoured move, the Indian selectors, with the complicity of Gautam Gambhir, decided to make a captain out of a player who had not played a T20I in more than two and a half years.
Think about it, it's a big problem. It speaks to the entire system's inability to nurture a successor – in this case to Suryakumar Yadav. Not that they wouldn't have tried, but efforts don't count much if there is no success. Hardik Pandya was India's vice captain at the 2024 T20 World Cup that India won under Rohit Sharma. India didn't make Pandya captain for one reason or another but at least they chose someone from the immediate ranks. Shubman Gill was then made vice-captain last year before the responsibility was given to Axar Patel, from whom it went to Tilak Varma ahead of the UK trip.
Patel ideally should have been the captain when Suryakumar was dropped from the team. Nobody says this out in the open, but these things rattle regular players. Everyone wants to captain Team India. It's a big honour, so when an outsider, out of nowhere, not only returns to the team but is also given captaincy, it leaves many upset. It takes time to reconcile with these things.
Iyer has his work cut out!
Iyer hasn't been made captain without credentials, though. He has taken his T20I batting to another level, as we have seen in the Indian Premier League in the last few seasons. He captained Kolkata Knight Riders to a trophy in 2024 and then the very next year took Punjab Kings to their second final in more than a decade. He had been a regular in the ODI set-up, and there was a massive clamour for him for the captaincy role after Suryakumar appeared to lose his touch with the bat.
As said before, it takes time to reconcile, and there has been very little time. There was no proper bonding time between the new captain and the team since India were busy playing Afghanistan till June 20. The team landed in Ireland just a couple of days before the first game scheduled for June 26. No time to practice in alien conditions, no time to get to know the new captain and no time for the new captain to tell his team what he expects from them. It's no one's fault, but Iyer for sure is now under pressure. He has to register the first win as soon as possible to dispel the negativity that the recent losses have brought upon the team. Maybe on Tuesday in the third T20I against England at Trent Bridge, it will happen. The good thing for him is that the BCCI has no option but to pay out the rope. He will have enough time to bring the team back on track.
