Ireland series defeat was depressing, didn't expect them to play this well: Shreyas Iyer

India’s newly appointed T20I captain Shreyas Iyer has said that the recent shock series loss to Ireland left the team depressed. Ireland hammered India 2-0 in a T20I series, which also included their first-ever victory against the Men in Blue in international cricket.

It was a disastrous start to the captaincy tenure for Shreyas Iyer as the team suffered its first T20I series loss since 2023, after having an unbeaten run of 16 series/tournaments. Commenting on his team’s performance ahead of the five-match series against England, Iyer called the defeat against Ireland depressing, mentioning that the Irish caught them off guard as they fell short in their preparations.

"It wasn't embarrassing, but it was depressing for us because we definitely didn't expect Ireland to play that well. They outplayed us in every department. They had brilliant ideas about the dimensions of the ground, and we fell short in terms of analysing and planning. The ground and the dimensions and how the wicket would play. So kudos to them, credit to them, but we learned a lot from that series,” said Iyer in the pre-match press conference ahead of the T20I series against England.

Iyer also mentioned how playing in Belfast after many years played a part in their downfall as the team couldn’t acclimatise themselves to the conditions in a short period.

"A couple of us, we have played in England before. We know how the wickets are usually we see it on TV as well. Belfast, we played after so many years. It's not a reason, but I'm just saying that turning up over there and then not getting acclimatised to the wicket, to the conditions, we fell a bit short in terms of reading the outfield and getting accustomed to the conditions over there,” he added.

Iyer shared the challenges of playing on an odd-shaped ground in Belfast both as a batter and captain.

"I feel it's completely different here because the Belfast ground definitely wasn't a stadium, and the outfield was a bit slow and it wasn't even and the dimensions were also a bit squarish. So cutting the angles, cutting the doubles, especially when you're fielding in the outfield, the angles. Also, as a captain, like for me, setting the field felt a bit outlandish because we are not used to it. We were playing in the IPL. All the grounds were, you know, perfectly even from every direction, so that was a bit challenging,” he added.

Will India bounce back in England?

Ireland were smart with their plans throughout the series as they didn’t allow Indian batters to target the short straight boundaries and kept bowling short to make them hit square on the longer part of the ground. Known for boasting the most aggressive batting lineup in the world, India failed to hit a single six for 17 overs in the second match, where they fell short by two runs, chasing 155.

Meanwhile, after a soul-crushing defeat, India will look to start afresh in the upcoming five-match series against England, beginning on Wednesday, July 1 at Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street.