Loss to West Indies should not be a dampener – Sunil Gavaskar

Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar feels the five-match T20I series against the West Indies should not be put under the carpet and it should be a wake-up call for the team. India lost the series by 3-2 after they could not come up with a collective batting show.

The visitors lost the first two matches of the series but did well to bounce back and win the next two games to level the series. But, the Hardik Pandya-led team lost the deciding T20I by eight wickets in Florida on Sunday and it was their first five-match T20I series loss against the Windies.

Gavaskar said that West Indies are a potent T20I team as they have a lot of match-winners in the shortest format of the game.

Sunil Gavaskar wrote for Sportstar, “The loss to West Indies should not be a dampener. Don’t forget that they have won the ICC T20 World Cup twice, and their players are match winners for the different franchises they play for in the IPL. So, they are a top-class T20 team, and there’s no shame in losing to them.”

The Little Master added India should focus on finding replacements for senior players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who haven’t played T20I cricket since the World Cup 2022.

“It should be a wake-up call, though, to see the areas where India needs to improve to strengthen its side. Some of those who were rested for this series may not be around for too long, so their replacements need to be found pretty quickly too, as the next ICC T20 World Cup is just a year away.”

India backed a young team for the five-match series but they could not grab their opportunities. The former Indian opener added it was not a full strength team and the young players will learn with more experience.

“That said, it would do well to remember that some key regular members of the team had been rested for this series, so it wasn’t the full-strength Indian T20 team. While some performances were good, others were disappointing, raising question marks about the temperament factor.”

India’s next T20I assignment is against Ireland, starting August 18.