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Former Team India cricketer and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) coach, Dinesh Karthik, exposed Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy, which led the team to a shameful 4-0 defeat by England after a 2-0 defeat against Ireland.
Last night, Team India had the opportunity to save their pride by at least winning the last match of the 5-match T20I series. There was hope until Jos Buttler and Harry Brook started a run feast in the middle of the park in Southampton.
Jos Buttler and Harry Brook vandalised the Indian bowling unit
When the first innings ended with England scoring 257 runs for only 3 wickets, the hope, which was in existence ahead of the match, had almost vanished. It was undeniable that Jos Buttler played extremely well to claim the 131-run knock off 64 balls, but did the Indian cricket team try their best to stop the batter from scoring runs with ease?
England captain Harry Brook returned for an unbeaten 95 off 45 balls. These two batters together smashed 16 fours and 16 sixes. The staggering number of maximums itself was enough to separate the teams.
Dinesh Karthik slammed Shreyas Iyer for the team’s below-par performance. Questioning the team combination, Karthik pointed out that the team lacked a quality fifth bowler, who could bring stability in the middle phase of the innings.
Dinesh Karthik raises questions over the team selection
While the regular bowlers Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Singh did decent jobs with the new ball in hand, the other bowlers had no reply against the aggressive duo of England batters. Prince Yadav and Axar Patel were the other full-time bowlers in the match for India. To support them, the Shreyas Iyer-led team showed their trust in all-rounders like Shivam Dube and Suryansh Shdege.
Suryansh Shedge, who played before under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer in IPL for the Punjab Kings, conceded 39 runs in 3 overs without taking any wicket, and Shivam Dube, who was asked to bowl the 19th over of the innings, his first of the match, conceded 22 runs, taking a brace.
"Absolutely terrible strategy": Dinesh Karthik slams Shreyas Iyer for poor captaincy
Through a video, Karthik mentioned that Suryaansh Shedge or Shivam Dube as the fifth bowler is a horrible strategy by the skipper Shreyas Iyer. Especially the single over of Dube, who did not deliver a single ball before going to bowl in the 19th over when batters were in the mood to accumulate as many runs as possible.
"Look at India's bowling performance: they conceded 17 sixes, the second-highest ever. You simply don't have a proper 5th bowling option; you're playing with only four bowlers. Your 5th bowler choices are Shedge and Dube; you don't even trust Dube to bowl, but you handed him the 19th over, and he conceded 22 runs," Dinesh Karthik explained.
"You should have realized that if one of your four main bowlers got taken to the cleaners, who would step up as the fifth bowler? It was an absolutely terrible strategy," he added.
Dinesh Karthik blasts on Captain Shreyas Iyer's poor playing-XI strategy.
— Indian Cricket 🏏 (@navshar54008403) July 12, 2026
"Look at India's bowling performance they conceded 17 sixes, the second-highest ever. You simply don't have a proper 5th bowling option, you're playing with only four bowlers. Your 5th bowlers choices… pic.twitter.com/jzEyoNmD87
