New Delhi: Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has criticized India’s actions after the team’s 0-4 T20I series loss to England, saying they will sack the head coach. Gautam Gambhircaptain Shreyas Iyer or a few players may be the “easy thing to do” but not solve the real problem.India endured a miserable outing, losing the five-match series 0-4 after the opening game. The defeat came after a 0-2 loss to Ireland, meaning that the T20 World Cup squad has not won a match in two away matches.Speaking in a video posted on Instagram, Manjrekar said that changing the coach, captain or players will not solve the root cause of India’s woes.“The easiest thing for India to do is to sack Gautam Gambhir, sack the captain, sack some players who did not perform well in Ireland and England. That would be easy,” Manjrekar said.Shreyas Iyer, who took over the T20I captaincy from Suryakumar Yadav after India’s World Cup victory, he endured a rough start. Under his leadership, India lost six out of seven T20Is, with one match abandoned due to rain.The massive defeat also saw India lose the #1 spot in the ICC Men’s T20I rankings to England.According to Manjrekar, India’s poor performance was due to the fact that the team was not prepared for foreign events.“The right thing to do would be to recognize the main reason for India’s comeback. And the main reason is that the T20 matches were played. Ireland and England. The conditions abroad,” he said.He believes that these players were selected mainly because of their performances in the IPL.“Our batsmen and our team didn’t prepare well for this. Why? Because the selectors have selected all these players based on their IPL performances,” he said.Manjrekar criticized the IPL’s batting quality, saying it makes it difficult to judge players’ ability in difficult situations.“IPL puts heavy makeup on Indian batsmen, all batsmen. The batting conditions of IPL are the easiest I have ever seen in my life. That’s why it favors cheating. That’s why you see a lot of fighters at the top of the order doing the crazy things they do. “He added that IPL performance is not only about success abroad.“So you don’t really know which player will do well when there is something for the bowlers. And it’s not as easy as batting on a marble sheet like in the IPL. And that’s when the selectors have to be smart and pick people like Shubham Gill, who will win in Ireland, England, wherever like batting in T20,” said Manjrekar.Manjrekar concluded by saying that the focus should be on those responsible for creating good batting conditions in the IPL.“Go deep and get rid of those guys who have been advising the BCCI (good batting conditions) to make the IPL more popular and more commercial. Let’s have four and six.
