BCCI to conduct a review of India's performance in England

India's continued downward slide in England has evidently shaken the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), which has now confirmed that it will conduct a review of the team's performance in Ireland and England. "We will have a review meeting with the core members of the team to discuss what went wrong in England," BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia said. The review will involve the core members of the team.

India have lost back-to-back T20I series - first in Ireland and now in England. The team suffered its first-ever series defeat to Ireland and also endured its heaviest T20I defeat against England in the third match at Trent Bridge. One game (on July 11) remains in the five-match series against England, but the series has already been lost.

"The BCCI is currently observing the performance of the Indian T20 team which has not been up to the mark in the ongoing series against England. However this is not something abnormal and can happen in international cricket. We consider it as a purely bad phase," Saikia, currently in Edinburgh, Scotland, for the annual conference of the International Cricket Council (ICC),

India are the defending champions in the format, having lifted the title at home. But the players have struggled to cope with overseas conditions. The much-celebrated debut of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, the IPL Orange Cap winner, has failed to leave an impression, with the youngster returning scores of 14, 13 and 15 in his first three international matches.

India are yet to win a game under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, who replaced Suryakumar Yadav after the World Cup. Of the six games under his leadership, India have lost five, with one ending in a no result. "The review meeting will be strictly about the team's performance and how to address the shortcomings. Nothing else will be discussed," the BCCI secretary said.

This is the first time England have beaten India in a bilateral T20I series of two or more games. India's last two defeats in a bilateral series against England (any format) had come on the 2018 tour (by 2-1 in ODIs and by 4-1 in Tests).

The T20Is will be followed by three ODI in which legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be involved. The BCCI hopes there will be a turnaround. "Since there is an ODI series, we are hoping that the team will be back in good form," Saikia said adding, "Once the ODI series gets over on July 19 and the team comes back, we will have a review meeting."

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