IND vs ENG, 4th T20I preview: How do Shreyas Iyer's India come back from 76-all-out
England vs India, 4th T20I preview: India have lost the opportunity to win the 5-match T20I series. With 2 matches to go, can Shreyas Iyer's team find it in themselves to dig them out of the hole?
Cricket, like life, has its ups and downs. There are good days and there are bad, and there is not much you can do about it. At the high points, you bask in glory, take the accolades, ride the wave, as they say. But when the trough hits, it hits you hard. Shreyas Iyer knows that all too well.
The last 14 days have been the worst for the newly appointed India captain, who was elevated to the position after three very strong seasons in the format. But that ascension has gone wrong, and horribly so. What was expected to be a smooth transition for the world champions has suddenly become a battle for survival in the Wild West.
India vs England 4th T20I match starts at 10 pm IST on Thursday, July 9. The match will be played at the County Ground in Bristol and will be livestreamed on JioStar. The broadcast rights are with Sony Sports Network.
Safe to say, this is the worst phase of Shreyas Iyer's career since he was unceremoniously dropped from the BCCI contracts at the start of 2024 for allegedly not focusing on domestic cricket.
Shreyas was able to battle out of that potentially career-ending situation, where the BCCI wanted to make an example out of him. Shreyas's fight was one to watch. An IPL title with KKR in 2024, a runners-up finish with Punjab Kings in 2025, and then an unbeaten run of seven matches in IPL 2026 (although that went away quickly), brought Shreyas to the mantle of Indian captaincy, in a team where he had not played for almost two and a half years.
And now, five matches into his captaincy tenure, Shreyas has been threatened again.
One could argue that I am jumping the gun. But am I? Five matches, four losses as the India T20I captain. When was the last time an India captain failed to win a single match in his first five games?
Never. Yes, you heard that right... never.
Suryakumar Yadav, dropped from the Indian team after India's T20 World Cup triumph, never lost a series under his leadership. In fact, Suryakumar lost only eight of his 52 matches in the format.
Even Hardik Pandya, who was elevated to captaincy at the end of 2022 and captained India for a year before Rohit Sharma's return, lost only five of his 16 matches.
Shreyas' start is so poor that India's vice-captain before the T20 World Cup, Shubman Gill, has a better captaincy record in T20Is than him. Shubman has won four of the five matches that he has captained India in.
The gravity of the matter is explained by the fact that India head coach Gautam Gambhir attended a post-match press conference midway through the series. Usually, his rants are saved for the end of the tour.
INDIA 76-ALL-OUT
Things are so bad with the current T20I team that it is difficult to assess what to expect. This is essentially the same team, minus a few senior members. But at any point, it is difficult to wrap your head around the fact that they have lost a series against Ireland and, three matches into the series against England, are in a position where they cannot win the bilateral anymore.
For world champions for the last two editions of the tournament, that is grim.
In Ireland, India admitted that they felt like they could stroll in and win the two matches, which, safe to say, did not happen.
Against England, India did not get a lot of time to undo that unpreparedness due to the short turnaround between the series. And it seems that they have failed to adjust to the conditions entirely.
Fast bowler Jofra Archer took a cheeky dig at the India batters, stating that they are used to small boundaries and flat pitches and are finding it difficult to adjust in the United Kingdom. If that is the case, then it is concerning for the Indian T20I team.
The bright side is that you cannot really go below 76 all out. Well, you can, if you match India's lowest T20I total of 74 in the next game, but that is unlikely to happen. Bristol is traditionally a high-scoring ground, which should fare well for the Indian team.
WHAT HAS PEGGED INDIA BACK
One of the main concerns highlighted by former cricketers during the recent losses is that India have been very finicky with their playing XI changes. Speaking after the third T20I, former India captain Anil Kumble criticised the fact that the Indian team management is not giving Shreyas Iyer a settled bowling attack to operate with.
"If you look at this Indian team, there have been too many changes, especially with the bowling attack. Prasidh Krishna went for runs in the first game vs Ireland and was dropped. Prince Yadav came in (vs Ireland), bowled exceptionally well, picked up wickets, India still lost, and then he wasn't even in the starting XI for the next game," Kumble said.
"As a new captain, you want a settled bowling attack. The bowlers are the ones who win you matches. Yes, the batters score runs, but it's the bowlers who close games out," he added.
SRH bowling coach Varun Aaron, who did sensational work with a young bowling crop in the IPL, pointed out the tactical deficiencies that cost India the game.
"In Trent Bridge, India were bowling slower balls and yorkers far too early. On this surface, that wasn't necessary. This is where you miss Jasprit Bumrah. He's someone who reads conditions very quickly and can tell the captain what lengths are working," Aaron said.
Sadly, you cannot have Bumrah in every game, and the team management or the captain perhaps needs to step up and guide the bowlers on what needs to be done in between games.
WILL INDIA MAKE CHANGES?
Having lost two games in a row, India might be prompted to make changes. Sanju Samson is the first name that comes to mind, but the team management will be trolled heavily if they bring him back into the line-up straightaway.
One thing that India could do is bring Washington Sundar into the line-up. The move adds both bowling and batting strength, something India could fall back on.
WHAT HAPPENS IF INDIA LOSE?
If India lose Thursday's match, they will lose back-to-back T20I series, which will be a big blot on Shreyas Iyer's captaincy record. A string of losses like this could make the selectors rethink their position on their captain. However, it would be really immature of them if they took that route.
A loss in Bristol will force India to rethink the strategy that won them the T20 World Cup. The next edition of the tournament is in Australia, and considering India have already started experimenting with bowlers suited to those conditions, they might think about recalibrating their batting order as well.
A win, on the other hand, will come as a huge relief to Shreyas Iyer, who will be glad to break the awful jinx that he is in. One hopes that Shreyas Iyer, a battle-hardened veteran of the domestic setup, will grow stronger out of this series.
He has shouldered storms before. Maybe he has enough strength to see off this one as well.
INDIA vs ENGLAND: PITCH CONDITIONS
Bristol is a high-scoring ground, where typically 200 runs is the par score. But this season that run-scoring has dipped, and something around the 170-180 run mark should be good enough. There are no chances of rain and the temparatures are expected to be on the higher side at the start of the game. Win toss, opt to bat first should be the go to
INDIA vs ENGLAND: PREDICTED PLAYING XIs
England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Harry Brook (c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue
India: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy.
Cricket, like life, has its ups and downs. There are good days and there are bad, and there is not much you can do about it. At the high points, you bask in glory, take the accolades, ride the wave, as they say. But when the trough hits, it hits you hard. Shreyas Iyer knows that all too well.
The last 14 days have been the worst for the newly appointed India captain, who was elevated to the position after three very strong seasons in the format. But that ascension has gone wrong, and horribly so. What was expected to be a smooth transition for the world champions has suddenly become a battle for survival in the Wild West.
India vs England 4th T20I match starts at 10 pm IST on Thursday, July 9. The match will be played at the County Ground in Bristol and will be livestreamed on JioStar. The broadcast rights are with Sony Sports Network.
Safe to say, this is the worst phase of Shreyas Iyer's career since he was unceremoniously dropped from the BCCI contracts at the start of 2024 for allegedly not focusing on domestic cricket.
Shreyas was able to battle out of that potentially career-ending situation, where the BCCI wanted to make an example out of him. Shreyas's fight was one to watch. An IPL title with KKR in 2024, a runners-up finish with Punjab Kings in 2025, and then an unbeaten run of seven matches in IPL 2026 (although that went away quickly), brought Shreyas to the mantle of Indian captaincy, in a team where he had not played for almost two and a half years.
And now, five matches into his captaincy tenure, Shreyas has been threatened again.
One could argue that I am jumping the gun. But am I? Five matches, four losses as the India T20I captain. When was the last time an India captain failed to win a single match in his first five games?
Never. Yes, you heard that right... never.
Suryakumar Yadav, dropped from the Indian team after India's T20 World Cup triumph, never lost a series under his leadership. In fact, Suryakumar lost only eight of his 52 matches in the format.
Even Hardik Pandya, who was elevated to captaincy at the end of 2022 and captained India for a year before Rohit Sharma's return, lost only five of his 16 matches.
Shreyas' start is so poor that India's vice-captain before the T20 World Cup, Shubman Gill, has a better captaincy record in T20Is than him. Shubman has won four of the five matches that he has captained India in.
The gravity of the matter is explained by the fact that India head coach Gautam Gambhir attended a post-match press conference midway through the series. Usually, his rants are saved for the end of the tour.
INDIA 76-ALL-OUT
Things are so bad with the current T20I team that it is difficult to assess what to expect. This is essentially the same team, minus a few senior members. But at any point, it is difficult to wrap your head around the fact that they have lost a series against Ireland and, three matches into the series against England, are in a position where they cannot win the bilateral anymore.
For world champions for the last two editions of the tournament, that is grim.
In Ireland, India admitted that they felt like they could stroll in and win the two matches, which, safe to say, did not happen.
Against England, India did not get a lot of time to undo that unpreparedness due to the short turnaround between the series. And it seems that they have failed to adjust to the conditions entirely.
Fast bowler Jofra Archer took a cheeky dig at the India batters, stating that they are used to small boundaries and flat pitches and are finding it difficult to adjust in the United Kingdom. If that is the case, then it is concerning for the Indian T20I team.
The bright side is that you cannot really go below 76 all out. Well, you can, if you match India's lowest T20I total of 74 in the next game, but that is unlikely to happen. Bristol is traditionally a high-scoring ground, which should fare well for the Indian team.
WHAT HAS PEGGED INDIA BACK
One of the main concerns highlighted by former cricketers during the recent losses is that India have been very finicky with their playing XI changes. Speaking after the third T20I, former India captain Anil Kumble criticised the fact that the Indian team management is not giving Shreyas Iyer a settled bowling attack to operate with.
"If you look at this Indian team, there have been too many changes, especially with the bowling attack. Prasidh Krishna went for runs in the first game vs Ireland and was dropped. Prince Yadav came in (vs Ireland), bowled exceptionally well, picked up wickets, India still lost, and then he wasn't even in the starting XI for the next game," Kumble said.
"As a new captain, you want a settled bowling attack. The bowlers are the ones who win you matches. Yes, the batters score runs, but it's the bowlers who close games out," he added.
SRH bowling coach Varun Aaron, who did sensational work with a young bowling crop in the IPL, pointed out the tactical deficiencies that cost India the game.
"In Trent Bridge, India were bowling slower balls and yorkers far too early. On this surface, that wasn't necessary. This is where you miss Jasprit Bumrah. He's someone who reads conditions very quickly and can tell the captain what lengths are working," Aaron said.
Sadly, you cannot have Bumrah in every game, and the team management or the captain perhaps needs to step up and guide the bowlers on what needs to be done in between games.
WILL INDIA MAKE CHANGES?
Having lost two games in a row, India might be prompted to make changes. Sanju Samson is the first name that comes to mind, but the team management will be trolled heavily if they bring him back into the line-up straightaway.
One thing that India could do is bring Washington Sundar into the line-up. The move adds both bowling and batting strength, something India could fall back on.
WHAT HAPPENS IF INDIA LOSE?
If India lose Thursday's match, they will lose back-to-back T20I series, which will be a big blot on Shreyas Iyer's captaincy record. A string of losses like this could make the selectors rethink their position on their captain. However, it would be really immature of them if they took that route.
A loss in Bristol will force India to rethink the strategy that won them the T20 World Cup. The next edition of the tournament is in Australia, and considering India have already started experimenting with bowlers suited to those conditions, they might think about recalibrating their batting order as well.
A win, on the other hand, will come as a huge relief to Shreyas Iyer, who will be glad to break the awful jinx that he is in. One hopes that Shreyas Iyer, a battle-hardened veteran of the domestic setup, will grow stronger out of this series.
He has shouldered storms before. Maybe he has enough strength to see off this one as well.
INDIA vs ENGLAND: PITCH CONDITIONS
Bristol is a high-scoring ground, where typically 200 runs is the par score. But this season that run-scoring has dipped, and something around the 170-180 run mark should be good enough. There are no chances of rain and the temparatures are expected to be on the higher side at the start of the game. Win toss, opt to bat first should be the go to
INDIA vs ENGLAND: PREDICTED PLAYING XIs
England: Phil Salt, Jos Buttler (wk), Harry Brook (c), Jacob Bethell, Tom Banton, Sam Curran, Will Jacks, Liam Dawson, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Josh Tongue
India: Abhishek Sharma, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Harshit Rana, Prince Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy.
