India's batting under the microscope after T20 defeats by England, Ireland

Pundits and former players highlighted India’s struggles with the bat on Saturday after the Twenty20 World Cup champions suffered back-to-back series defeats by England and Ireland.

England beat India by 56 runs in the fifth and final T20I at Southampton, the hosts sealing a 4-0 series win after the opener ended in a no result due to rain. That series defeat came after Ireland had completed a 2-0 T20 whitewash last month.

Player-turned-commentator Dinesh Karthik said India’s batting unit had looked out of rhythm throughout the tour.

“I think India have a problem adapting to a little bit of extra bounce,” he told cricket news site Cricbuzz.

“The middle order looks wobbly, not confident, and it is definitely not the Indian team that we saw during the World Cup or before it in bilateral series, where they took down opponents and actually imposed a lot of fear. Where has that gone?”

India captain Shreyas Iyer said their failure to adapt to different conditions had cost them in the series.

“We kept on going from one venue to another, and we kept on facing challenges, especially in terms of the dimensions, the grounds, the conditions, just to adapt to it as quickly as we could have anticipated. That didn’t happen,” Iyer, who was appointed T20I captain in June, told reporters.

India great Sunil Gavaskar said the team’s batting had been having concerns throughout the series.

“I do believe that the batting has to really come to the party, because the batting is the strongest part of this Indian team, and if the strongest part is you know not doing well, then no wonder it has an effect on your bowling as well as your catching,” he added.

Commentator Harsha Bhogle said the defeat could be a wake up-call for India.

“Essentially England have beaten India playing a style that India thought was theirs,” he said. “If India is willing to look at this result as something that has shone light on their cracks, a lot of good can come out of it.”

India next play three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) against England starting on Tuesday. ...