Shreyas Iyer couldn't register a win in his maiden assignment as India's T20I captain.
Shreyas Iyer remained winless in his first assignment as India’s T20I captain on the tour of UK. While the Men in Blue suffered a humiliating 0-2 series defeat to Ireland, they failed to register a victory in four completed games against England.
The consecutive series whitewash has piled pressure on Shreyas, who replaced Suryakumar Yadav as T20I skipper despite not being part of India’s triumphant World Cup campaign earlier this year.
Despite the early setbacks, Iyer emphasized a long-term vision focused on building team camaraderie and nurturing players for tough upcoming overseas assignments.
"It's not hard, honestly. I feel it's a privilege for me to take over the captaincy. Every individual dreams of captaining for the Indian team. And taking on from [that] high, definitely I love pressure, and I feel it's a privilege," Iyer said in the post-match presser after India’s 56-run defeat in the fifth T20I against England at Southampton.
"So for me to thrive under pressure, to learn from these moments is definitely going to make me better going forward. And that's my mindset right now. Not thinking much about how people are going to think about this particular series because see, good and bad, it's part and parcel of this game.
"Going forward, I need to be extremely positive in how I'm going to basically nurture everyone who is playing around me, especially in overseas conditions. We know we are going to play in Australia and many other series before that. So the best camaraderie to fit in these conditions… our goal is that going forward, that is going to be our plan."
Shreyas Iyer pointed to the rapid venue changes, unfamiliar ground dimensions, and alien playing conditions in England as the primary hurdles during his T20I captaincy debut.
"We kept on going from one venue to another and we kept on facing challenges, especially in terms of the dimensions, the grounds, the conditions," Iyer stated. "Just to adapt to it as quickly as we could have anticipated… that didn't happen. That was one challenge. And the other one is definitely they outplayed us in all departments, I would say. So I think the combinations of all these points definitely led to this result."
The Indian batting unit was unable to handle the extra bounce generated by fast bowlers in Ireland and England. The bowlers, particularly spinners, also failed to adapt to the conditions. However, Iyer highlighted the lapses in the fielding department.
"Just in terms of the fielding, I think it plays a key role, especially building that momentum and energy around the team environment," Iyer said. "We went to Ireland, and we fielded here. I think we were definitely dominated by them in that aspect. And why I feel fielding is very important is because it basically creates a rhythm in the team. So especially in T20 where your fitness demands you to be agile, you need to be aware about how the conditions are going to be, especially different outfields and different wickets. So I think that's one department if we are probably the best, if we basically dream to be the best team, we'll definitely prosper."
The Indian team management's call to drop young prodigy Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for the fifth T20I against England hogged the headlines.
Sooryavanshi made his historic international debut in the second T20I at Old Trafford last week. At just 15 years and 99 days old, the southpaw broke Sachin Tendulkar's long-standing record as the youngest-ever Indian to debut in men’s international cricket.
However, the teenager failed to live up to the expectations, returning with scores of 14, 13, and 15 in three outings. He eventually faced the axing as the visitors brought back Sanju Samson, a player the team management had dropped midway through the series.
Addressing the decision to bench Sooryavanshi, Iyer said: "We needed to try the best combination that would be perfect in these conditions. And we also wanted a right-hander to go on with Abhishek. So that was one of the major reasons. I was the only one out of all the left-handers who's a right-hander. So we wanted to try a different combination, which would be suitable for this particular game. And he's a gun batsman. He has won so many series for us in the past."
(With Cricinfo Inputs)