India suffered a 2-0 T20I series defeat to Ireland, marking the first time they have lost a bilateral T20I series against the Irish side. After dominating the IPL on batting friendly surfaces, India’s young batting unit struggled to adapt to the seam friendly conditions in Ireland as the hosts beat them in both matches. The result also marked another series defeat for Gautam Gambhir in his tenure as coach.Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar believes the defeat exposed a flaw in the composition of India’s team rather than just its execution. He argued that India has become over-reliant on the all-rounder and now urgently needs a specialist middle-order batsman, also citing why Shubman Gill should make a comeback in the T20I setup. Taking a swipe at X, Manjrekar wrote: “It was too little before…under Gambhir, it’s too much. The ‘all-rounders’. India need a PURE middle-order batsman, ready!”
Manjrekar wants Gill back in T20Is
During the broadcaster’s post-match discussion, Manjrekar also explained that Indian batsmen need to develop the technique to succeed on pitches that offer assistance to the bowlers, instead of relying solely on the flat batting tracks that they are used to at home and in the IPL. He cited Shubman Gill as the ideal example of a batsman able to thrive in such conditions and backed the India ODI captain to eventually make a comeback to the T20I setup.“Shubman Gill… just so that people understand, this is a guy who is a T20 batsman now and he also had a tremendous IPL. I’m not talking about the captain, but these are the players that you slowly want to introduce in T20 cricket because they have a little more depth in conditions like these and they are used to them as well, as we saw in England and when he said.”“This is the path for Shubman Gill going forward. It won’t happen immediately, but I think slowly we will start to see him back in India’s T20 plans,” he added.India will have a chance to bounce back quickly when they begin their five-match T20I series against England on July 1, with the team looking to put the disappointing tour of Ireland behind them.
| Match | Date | Place | Time (IST) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st T20I | July 1, 2026 | Riverside Ground, Chester-le-Street | 10:00 p.m |
| 2nd T20I | July 4, 2026 | Emirates Old Trafford, Manchester | 7:00 p.m |
| 3rd T20I | July 7, 2026 | Trent Bridge, Nottingham | 10:00 p.m |
| 4th T20I | July 9, 2026 | Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol | 10:00 p.m |
| 5th T20I | July 11, 2026 | The Rose Bowl, Southampton | 7:00 p.m |
| 1st ODI | July 14, 2026 | Edgbaston, Birmingham | 3:30 p.m |
| 2nd ODI | July 16, 2026 | Sophia Gardens, Cardiff | 5:30 p.m |
| 3rd ODI | July 19, 2026 | Sir, London | 3:30 p.m |
