India stare at rare T20 slide after third straight defeat; middle-order woes deepen

TimesofIndia. com in Nottingham: Before the series loss against Ireland, India had last lost two T20Is in a row back in August 2023 against the West Indies. It was a time when India hadn't won back-to-back T20 World Cups; and Suryakumar Yadav was one of the most prolific T20 batters and much of the cricketing world hadn't heard of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.Cut to present day: India are two-time T20 world champions. Suryakumar Yadav, who led the side to glory earlier this year, lost his captaincy and place in the side following diminishing returns with the bat. Sooryavanshi, meanwhile, has been rewarded for prolific scoring in the IPL with a debut in Manchester.After losing the second T20I against England, India have now lost three consecutive completed T20Is. The last time India recorded losses in 3-or-more consecutive games was back in July–November 2021.During this period, India lost four T20Is on the trot: two bilateral T20Is against Sri Lanka, and the disastrous start to the T20 World Cup campaign in Dubai against Pakistan and New Zealand.On a pitch that offered variable bounce at Old Trafford, Sam Curran exposed the Indian middle order. Shivam Dube, who came in to bat before Tilak Verma, struggled to get bat on ball. Though Dube's innings lasted only seven deliveries, his stay was excruciatingly painful to watch.

Crucially, it's evident from the last two Indian innings that scoring in the middle order has slowed down considerably.At Chester-le-Street, India were 87/2 at the end of 8 overs, and scored only 38 runs for the loss of two wickets in the next six overs. Harry Brook, sensing the opportunity at the fall of Abhishek Sharma's wicket, didn't let the Indian batters settle. Five different bowlers operated from the 9th to the 14th over — Sam Curran, Liam Dawson, Adil Rashid, Will Jacks, and Saqib Mahmood.A similar pattern was observed in Manchester; India were 130/2 before Shreyas Iyer fell on the last ball of the 13th over. In the next 35 deliveries, the visitors scored just 36 runs, losing 3 wickets.Though there have been late flourishes in both previous games, the batters seem to lack match awareness.In the first T20I, Shivam Dube had scored 34 off 19 deliveries and should have faced the remainder of the last over, instead he opted to take a single off the second ball.

Similarly, in Manchester, Tilak Verma had taken 16 off the first three deliveries of the last over and should have continued to face the remaining balls instead of taking a single.England must have welcomed a positive result in Manchester. Since the conclusion of the Lord's Test, the England cricket team have been under the microscope, and they must be thankful that attention has shifted away from them slightly. It also gave the England team management much-needed time to resolve their outstanding questions about all-format captaincy, following Ben Stokes's retirement from international cricket.On the contrary, as India brace to take on England at Trent Bridge, they must hope their journey down south helps turn the tide, and that what happened in the North and across the Irish Sea was a blip.