Tilak Varma made 55 in India's 1-run loss to Ireland in second T20I.
Ambati Rayudu, a former player for India, is not shocked by the team's 0-2 T20I series defeat to Ireland since he thinks Shreyas Iyer and his team were ill-prepared for the task; finisher Tilak Varma's inability to get going on slower wickets is one example.
Rayudu, who played 55 ODIs and six T20Is for India, told PTI exclusively that the current T20 World Champions, who lost the second T20I by just one run on Sunday in Belfast, found the circumstances after the IPL to be too challenging.
"No, I'm not really surprised because I don't think they were prepared well enough for the conditions that they have encountered. It's always very, very difficult to go from really flat tracks to slightly spongy wickets which have some lateral movement as well. Most of the guys are so used to having these really fast bat-swings, the in-between game and the control of the down-swing is a major concern," Rayudu told PTI.
Furthermore, Rayudu pointed out flaws in Tilak Varma’s approach to batting and stated that he needed to use his feet more against spinners. Varma made 55 in India’s narrow loss to Ireland in the second T20I, but took 48 balls to score those runs, putting pressure on himself and other batters.
"More than his mental approach, his game against slow bowling on slow surfaces has been kind of a struggle for a while. Whenever he encounters wickets on which the ball does not really come on to the bat, that is where we have seen him struggle a little bit to up the tempo. I really think he needs to work on that side of the game.
Against spinners, he likes to access the square boundaries a lot more. When you try to do that, you want the ball to come really well onto the bat. Otherwise, it is very difficult because he doesn't use his feet as much," he added.
Rayudu said the 23-year-old also needs to work on his ability to raise the tempo of the game.
“He doesn't sweep on the pitch of the ball, and there are a lot of shots that he does not play conventionally. If he improves that side of his game, raising the tempo will be secondary, a by-product of that.
(But) He needs some time to really develop that game... because they (Indian players) don't get enough time between series to work on their batting, that is also one reason why we see them struggle to adapt sometimes when the conditions are not in their favour," he added.
Rayudu stated that although playing on such fields presents a significant challenge for the Indians, he is not very worried about the defeat to Ireland ahead of the five-match Twenty20 International series against England that begins on Wednesday.
"(With) all due respect, they don't get enough wickets even in India to practice on, which are of a similar quality. (But) I wouldn't really read much into it because going into England, those wickets are far, far better than what they have encountered here," he said.
India will play England in a five-T20I series starting July 1.
(PTI inputs)