India, under Shreyas Iyer, might have won the T20I series against Zimbabwe, but one cannot forget the debacles of the England and Ireland series. The Men in Blue failed to win a single T20I across seven games in the UK, losing to Ireland 2-0 and 4-0 to England. To make matters worse, the fate was the same when Shubman Gill took over in ODIs as the visitors lost 1-2. The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has already stated that it would conduct a review into the losses and ahead of the meeting, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has given some suggestions.
The 1983 World Cup winner said that the Indian board should look to increase the boundary size in the IPL, as it will help batters not feel alien when they travel for overseas tours.
However, he also added that the batters in the current setup have to learn to curb their egos and play according to the situation, rather than chasing glory shots. He also emphasised the importance of playing “smart cricket.”
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“There is a lot of hard work ahead for the team. A good, honest reflection on what the shortcomings were and how to overcome them is the need of the hour. Shot selection is very important, and here the batter has to rein in his ego and not try to live up to an image, but play the ball on its merits,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
“Above all, it’s necessary to play smart cricket. So, figure out the bowler who doesn’t need to be counter-attacked. Then target the bowlers against whom you can make up for the quiet over from the better bowler,” he added.
‘Introspect’
Gavaskar also had a piece of advice for head coach Gautam Gambhir, saying the management needs to drop average fielders from the squad, as the captain cannot hide three or four players in the field.
He also called for “introspection”, saying there has to be accountability and more emphasis needs to be put on the execution in the middle.
“Most of all, it’s mandatory that if a player is an average fielder, he has to be shown the door. There is simply no way a captain has to hide three or four players, hoping the ball won’t go anywhere near them. The bowlers also must look at the slow bouncer once again and see how cleverly Sam Curran used the slow, loopy deliveries,” wrote Gavaskar.
“As I said, there’s no need to press the emergency button as yet. However, there’s plenty of honest introspection needed. There also has to be a lot more thought put into the execution of each individual’s speciality if the Indian team is to get back to winning ways,” he added.