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The shock 125-run defeat against England came as a collective failure from the entire batting line-up, which the Indian team management will have to resolve as soon as possible if they want to save the 5-match series.
The home team is currently leading it 2-0 after the opening match of the series was washed out in Durham. In the following two matches, it was England who had the last laugh.
Team India bowled out for 76 only in a T20I match vs England
In the second game, the Men in Blue could have won the match, but they gave away the momentum. On the previous occasion at Trent Bridge, the Shreyas Iyer-led team was never in a position to compete with the opposing bowlers, especially against Josh Tongue and Jofra Archer. In reply to England’s 201, India, the winner of the 2026 T20 World Cup, was bundled out for only 76 runs on board.
Former England all-rounder Moeen Ali points out multiple issues in the Indian batting order. It is beyond his imagination why the team management sent Axar Patel, who is mostly known for his spin bowling skills, ahead of Tilak Varma. Last night, Axar Patel walked into the middle to bat when there was more than an over left in the powerplay.
Why was Harshit Rana ahead of Shivam Dube in batting order?
Shivam Dube’s batting position is also questionable, as he was sent late, after Harshit Rana. Despite those changes in the batting order, India showed no resistance against the England bowling attack. The fall of wickets continued even after the conclusion of the powerplay.
“India's big problem is Axar Patel coming in so high. Tilak for me is coming in too low. Shivam, you are just hiding until you get to a point where you can just go after the spinners. He's in the team to do everything," Moeen Ali said on the 'Beard Before Wicket' podcast.
Moeen Ali’s arrow was pointed towards the middle-order batter, not towards the openers, Abhishek Sharma and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi. The former cricketer explains that the openers' duty was to rotate the strike rate as quickly as possible, and both of them lost their wickets in the process to go aggressive against the seamers.
“I don't blame the Indian openers. I actually love the way they play, and I think that's the right way to go, to have two of those. You know, if Abhishek bats six overs, he's probably going to close to 50, if not past 50. We know Suryavanshi could probably get even more. So you don't mind that. That's their threat. But it's the guys who come after that have to be able to adapt,” he added.
Moeen Ali issues warning to Vaibhav Sooryavanshi
Ali further mentioned that the batting method and the intensity Vaibhav Sooryavanshi showed in his first two outings were impressive; he was dismissed early in both of the games, but looked promising. In a sense of warning, Moeen Ali also mentioned that the young batter would have to play long-standing knocks to save his place.
“His only issue is going to be, if he doesn't score for the next two, three, or five games, then that becomes an issue. I still think he is so good. The way he is going out now, for me, that is not a weakness. I've seen him hit those balls for six. I'm not worried about him. It's the rest of the guys coming down the order,” Ali expressed.
