India captain Shreyas Iyer has admitted that the 2-0 loss in Ireland followed by the 0-4 defeat at the hands of England has indeed been hurtful, but has said it is good it has happened earlier in the new cycle. The two-time defending champions, having not lost a T20I series for three years, lost successive ones as Shreyas tenure as captain started off on a horrifying note.
In the five-match T20I against England, India ended up losing four of them with one being washed out. Speaking about the series scoreline, Shreyas said there are lessons to be learnt. “It definitely hurts. But I feel that it’s a great learning for me as a captain and also for other players who have played here for the first time. And when I say great learning, it’s all about how you turn up for the tournament. You can’t just have that mindset that you will come to England and you will win the series. You need to work hard, you need to be focused which we were as a team. But I personally feel that they played exceptional cricket throughout in all three departments. So, probably, you see, the results also went in their favour because they were comprehensive in all three departments,” Shreyas who took over from Suryakumar Yadav beginning the series in Ireland said.
Having previously not been part of the T20I squad for two years when Suryakumar was captain, Shreyas was handed the tough job of walking into the XI and leading the side. Although his batting was by far the best for any Indian player this series, the results showed the job at his hand. But Shreyas was unfazed and preferred to look into the future.
“It’s not hard, honestly. I feel it’s a privilege for me to take over the captaincy. Every individual dreams’ of captaining for the Indian team and taking on from high. Definitely, I love pressure and I feel it’s a privilege. So, for me to thrive under pressure, to learn from these moments is definitely going to make me better going forward. And that’s my mindset right now. Not thinking much about how people are going to think about this particular series because good and bad is part and parcel of this game. Going forward, I need to be extremely positive enough in how I’m going to basically nurture everyone who is playing around me and especially in overseas conditions. We know we are going to play in Australia and many other cities before that. So, the best camaraderie to fit in these conditions is our goal and going forward, that is going to be our plan,” Shreyas added.
