India suffered a 56-run defeat against England in the fifth and final T20 International at Southampton on Saturday (July 11), allowing the hosts to complete a 4-0 series sweep.
Jos Buttler smashed 131 off 64 balls, while skipper Harry Brook remained unbeaten on 95 off 45 balls to power England to a gigantic 257/3 in 20 overs. The duo shared an explosive 233-run stand for the second wicket off just 102 balls, smashing the Indian bowlers to all parts of the ground.
During the chase, the visitors were restricted to 201/8 despite half-centuries from Ishan Kishan (56) and Tilak Varma (53).
Speaking after the match, India skipper Shreyas Iyer highlighted the team's altered batting approach while chasing a daunting target. He also emphasized that sloppy fielding cost them badly.
“There's a lot to take out, honestly speaking. Firstly, the conditions, the awareness, the adaptation to the wickets. I feel that every ground we played at, this was probably the best wicket we played on so far. So you saw even when we batted today, the approach was completely different. And it's all about adaptation, I feel. The conditions changed, kept changing right from match one. But yeah, as professionals, we need to learn and be aware of all these conditions,” Shreyas said at the post-match presentation.
“I feel that it's important that we communicate as much as possible that what we could have done better over here, especially. And you see, fielding plays a key role in winning matches. So that is one aspect we need to work on hardly. And especially when you come in overseas conditions, the dimensions of the ground is completely different. So the quicker you adapt, the better,” he added.
When asked if choice of deliveries at certain stages could have been better, Iyer replied: “Yes, absolutely. I feel that especially on this track where it was a belter, we could have probably bluffed, you know, honestly speaking. But also we dropped a couple of catches which probably cost us a bit in the total. And we would have been chasing around 220 to 225. That would have been probably one of the best chases we could have done. But unfortunate that we didn't get that opportunity. But hopefully as we mentioned earlier, great learning.”
The Indian captain also attributed the loss to losing wickets in “clusters”, and commended the English bowlers for executing their plans to perfection.
“Absolutely, we lost in cluster. And rather than making partnerships, we were going after the chase, which is not particularly you can go on these wickets. I think you need to probably have that sort of awareness that okay, the wicket is playing in such a way. So take some time, target your particular bowlers. And I felt that their execution in bowling were spot on. And they've played a lot of cricket over here. So definitely I'm sure that they were on top of their mark,” he remarked.
Shreyas Iyer praised the match-defining knocks by Buttler and Brook, noting their roles in shifting the momentum of the game.
“Yes, I think it was sensational batting by Buttler. And then Harry came in and he changed the momentum towards them. So that partnership definitely steadied the ship for them. And we dropped a couple of catches. I think that could have changed the rhythm of the game. But nonetheless, great learning. And I'm sure that boys would be aware next time when they come here,” he concluded.
