Team India’s disastrous T20I tour of Ireland and England has put newly-appointed captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Gautam Gambhir under intense scrutiny. After suffering a shock 0-2 series defeat to Ireland followed by a crushing 0-4 loss to England, questions have been raised over India’s T20I setup. However, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes sacking the captain or coach would be the “easy” solution rather than the right one.
Speaking in a video on Instagram, Manjrekar urged the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to look beyond the results and identify the root cause of the team’s struggles.
“The easiest thing to do for India would be to sack Gautam Gambhir, sack the captain, sack some of the players who didn’t perform well in Ireland and England. That would be the easy thing to do,” Manjrekar said.
According to him, India’s biggest problem was a lack of preparation for overseas conditions. He argued that the selectors relied too heavily on IPL performances while picking the squad, despite the vastly different nature of pitches in England and Ireland.
“The right thing to do would be to identify the main reason for India’s setback. These T20 matches were played in Ireland and England, in overseas conditions. Our batters and our team were poorly prepared because the selectors picked these players based on their IPL performances,” he added.
Manjrekar also criticised the batting-friendly nature of IPL pitches, claiming they create a misleading picture of a batter’s true ability.
“The IPL puts very heavy makeup on Indian batters. The batting conditions are the easiest I’ve ever seen in my life. They flatter to deceive. That’s why you don’t really know which player will succeed when there is something in the pitch for the bowlers.”
He suggested that the selectors should prioritise technically sound batters capable of succeeding across conditions, citing Shubman Gill as an example.
“The selectors need to be smart and pick players like Shubman Gill, who can succeed in Ireland, England and everywhere as a T20 batter.”
Manjrekar concluded by saying that if changes are to be made, the focus should be on those responsible for promoting excessively batting-friendly IPL conditions rather than removing Gambhir or Iyer.
“Go deeper and actually sack those who’ve been advising the BCCI to prepare these batting-friendly conditions to make the IPL more popular and commercially viable, instead of blaming the captain or coach.”
