The piece was written before the first India v England T20I got underway in Durham, so I had no idea of the result. Whichever way it may have gone, the truth is that the criticism of Shreyas Iyer based on what happened in Ireland is unwarranted. It reflects the fickleness of Indian fandom. Shreyas, whom many believed was the right man for the job and had actually been overlooked for too long, is suddenly in the eye of the storm. “How could he be made captain when he has hardly played T20 cricket for the national team?” is the question doing the rounds.
The same question could have been asked when he was first handed the responsibility. At that point, all anyone was going by was his IPL record as captain. He led Punjab Kings superbly and even took them to the final in his first season with the franchise. Punjab started well in 2026 but faded as a team. The selectors looked at Shreyas’s work with KKR and Punjab, along with his performances in domestic cricket, and entrusted him with the job.
The truth is that anyone would need time. So will Shreyas. The defeats in Ireland were surprising, for sure, but come on – they don’t change much for Indian T20 cricket. India are still the best team in the world in the format and possess the deepest talent pool. Shreyas, especially in challenging conditions, deserves a little more time to settle into the role. To start questioning him after the Ireland aberration is a knee-jerk reaction that serves no purpose.
The fact is that Shreyas is good enough to come out of this phase. The entire Indian batting line-up struggled in Ireland under difficult batting conditions, and that could happen to any touring side. India are no different, and with time the batting unit should be better equipped to succeed in England, where the conditions are likely to be more conducive to strokeplay.
I have also seen comments about the need to prepare players in challenging conditions back home. These are the same kinds of comments that surface every time there is a FIFA World Cup. Suddenly, everyone becomes a football pundit, asking the same question: how is it that a country of 1.4 billion cannot qualify for the World Cup when Cape Verde can reach the Round of 32? The same applies to the Olympics. After every Games, the familiar refrain is: why can’t a country of 1.4 billion people win more than six medals?
Without understanding the ground realities, people make a few social media headlines and then disappear for another four years. Cricket is no different. The moment India lose a couple of games, phrases such as “flat-track bullies” begin doing the rounds.
India, it seems, simply cannot lose. That is the bottom line. So what if you have won the T20 World Cup back-to-back? You are expected to win every single game, and if you don’t, the captain and the management are immediately put in the dock. This fickleness helps neither the sport nor its supporters. Can we even call them supporters?
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The post The Shreyas Iyer Backlash Is Premature – and Says More About Us Than It Does About Him appeared first on Sports News Portal | Revsportz.
