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India vs England 4th T20I is scheduled to take place on Thursday at the Bristol Cricket Ground in Bristol. The Men in Blue have lost two of the first three T20Is here against England, with the first game being washed out, and in the other two, they were completely outplayed by their opponents. Shreyas Iyer’s team were demolished in the last game.
The Men in Blue were bowled out for 76 runs in the last game at Trent Bridge, while they were chasing a target of 202 runs. This was their second-lowest total in the history of T20Is. After the loss, the fans and former cricketers are hugely disappointed and have criticised some of the decisions of the team management.
India on the verge of an unwanted record
The fourth T20I is a must-win game for India in order to keep the series alive, as a loss will end their hopes of drawing the series. If they lose this match, they will lose their first back-to-back series since the 2018/19 season, when they lost to Australia and New Zealand. The Men in Blue have already lost the two-match series against Ireland.
They were shocked by Lorcan Tucker’s Irish side, marking their first win over the Men in Blue across formats. This was Shreyas Iyer’s first assignment as T20I captain. Now, if they lose the series against England, it will be their first T20I series defeat against the side after 12 years.
Shreyas Iyer already under pressure after poor captaincy start
Shreyas Iyer already has some unwanted records to his name at the start of his career as an India T20I captain, as he has four losses in the first five matches, with no other Indian T20I captain having remained winless in his first five matches. He achieved the record after India’s thumping defeat by 125 runs in the last match.
After the loss in the last game, it is also India's longest winless streak in T20Is since winning the T20 World Cup, with four defeats and one no result. They have previously lost four consecutive matches in a row twice, once under the captaincy of MS Dhoni back in 2009 and under Shikhar Dhawan back in 2021, losing twice, and then under Virat Kohli lost the first two games of the T20 World Cup.
Shreyas Iyer needs to step up big for the side
Shreyas Iyer slammed the whole team after the loss and instructed his teammates to get past their recent failures and hope for a big comeback. While the Men in Blue can no longer win the T20I series, they may rescue a 2-2 draw by winning the fourth and fifth matches. Iyer would not like to have started his career with two back-to-back series losses.
The current T20 World Cup champions are under serious pressure alongside Gautam Gambhir, who has been questioned for his team selection process and for making a left-handed-heavy side, and also for dropping Sanju Samson from the squad. It is expected that Sanju will be back in the squad in the upcoming game in place of Tilak Varma.
