New Delhi: Former India captain Anil Kumble has strongly criticised India’s performance after their crushing 125 run defeat to England national cricket team in the third T20I, describing the display as an “abject surrender” and questioning both the batting strategy and team management’s decisions.
Led by Shreyas Iyer, India were bowled out for just 76 while chasing a challenging target, leaving them without a win in the five match series at that stage and needing victories in the remaining two matches to draw the contest.
Reacting to the defeat, Kumble said a world champion side should not collapse in such a manner. He felt the Indian batters lacked patience against England’s pace attack, led by Jofra Archer and Josh Tongue.
According to Kumble, India’s batters adopted an overly aggressive approach despite the demanding required run rate. He argued that one batter needed to absorb the pressure, build an innings and take responsibility instead of everyone attempting attacking strokes from the outset, which ultimately resulted in a dramatic collapse.
The former head coach also questioned the team’s batting order, particularly the decision to promote Harshit Rana ahead of Shivam Dube. Kumble said T20 cricket demands that the strongest batters are sent in earlier and felt it was unrealistic to expect a lower order player to rescue the innings ahead of an established batter.
Kumble further criticised India’s frequent changes to the bowling attack, saying the team management should show greater faith in selected players. He pointed to the omission of Prasidh Krishna after one poor outing and noted that Prince Yadav impressed with three wickets in the following match despite India’s defeat.
He stressed that successful teams build consistency by backing players through difficult phases, adding that occasional failures should not automatically result in players being dropped from the side.
