India vs England, 3rd T20I: Team India skipper Shreyas Iyer has found himself under fire after the Men in Blue lost four of their first five T20Is since his tenure as the T20I skipper began. The reigning World T20I champions crashed to a new low in the third T20I against England in Nottingham as the hosts consigned them to a 125-run loss in defence of 201 to take a 2-0 lead in the five-game T20I series. As a result, Iyer has been accused of bringing his poor luck as captain for the Punjab Kings to the Indian team.
India vs England, 3rd T20I: Why has Shreyas Iyer found himself under criticism?
While Iyer is yet to win a match since becoming India’s full-time T20I captain, he has also found himself short of runs. The two-game series against Ireland saw the right-hander score only 3 and 10 as the sub-continent nation crashed to a shocking series loss. He responded with a measured knock of 68 against England in the series-opener in Durham but has had scores of 37 and 5 in the next two innings. Iyer’s dismissal in Nottingham drew plenty of criticism as he tamely chipped a leg-stump half-volley from Jofra Archer to Jacob Bethell at deep backward square leg instead of putting it away for a boundary. With the Men in Blue on a cusp of a series loss, Iyer is firmly in the firing line.
The results have drawn parallels with his captaincy tenure for the Punjab Kings, who won six out of their first seven games but still could not reach the playoffs after losing continuously until their final league match. Here’s how the netizens have reacted:
Le Shreyas Iyer captaincy. Can’t even win against Ireland. Turned India into PBKS.
— Vvk (@vvk_blc) July 7, 2026
Shreyas Iyer bringing in his PBKS bad luck mess to Indian team as well🥴
— Sanatan Brigade (@SanatanSense) July 7, 2026
Shreyas iyer turned indian team into pbks😠#Fıfaworldcup
— Dinosaurs (@HarshRa42128181) July 7, 2026
India vs England, 3rd T20I: How did Shreyas Iyer react to the defeat in Nottingham?
At the post-game presentation, the Mumbai-born cricketer lamented giving away too many runs and believes the execution with the bat didn’t go according to plan. He stated:
“It was atrocious. Losing by such a big margin isn’t acceptable. First things first, we have to accept this loss and go back to the drawing board. It wasn’t a 200 wicket. Losing four in the powerplay didn’t create momentum, lost it there. You can plan a lot, once you come into the ground you have to adapt, figure out lengths. Hard lengths helped, we didn’t execute. When you’re chasing, you have to set patterns and our execution was off.”
The two sides will battle it out in the fourth T20I in Bristol on July 9, Thursday.
