'We Didn't Expect Ireland To...': Shreyas Iyer On Why 0-2 Defeat Was 'Depressing'

India T20I skipper Shreyas Iyer has called India’s 0-2 shock defeat to Ireland in the recent away series ‘depressing’, saying that the Men in Blue didn’t expect their hosts to ‘play that well’. While blaming the loss on the lack of understanding of the ‘ground dimensions’ in Belfast, he said these learnings and the experience of playing in England will help them in the upcoming five-T20I series against Harry Brook’s men.

Ireland had never beaten India in any format before this series and ended up clean-sweeping a side that had visited their land as the back-to-back T20 World Cup champions. To make it worse, Ireland were also missing five key players due to injury, making them as underdog as underdogs get.

“It wasn’t embarrassing, but it was depressing

for us because we definitely didn’t expect Ireland to play that well,” Shreyas said. “They outplayed us in every department. They had brilliant ideas about the dimensions of the ground. And we fell short in terms of analysing and planning—the ground, the dimensions, how the wicket would play. So kudos to them, credit to them. But we learned a lot from that series. This is a completely new chapter for us coming in here. A couple of us have played in England before, and we know the conditions, we know the ideas, we know the dimensions over here. So looking forward to an intense and challenging series,” he added

The visitors’ middle order performed poorly, and it didn’t look particularly great on Shreyas to lose and not put up a notable batting show in his first series at the helm, taking over from a title-winning skipper in Suryakumar Yadav. But Shreyas denied feeling any pressure.

“The way I’m timing the ball in the nets—even in the match, in the previous game, I thought I was timing it brilliantly. I just thought the ball bounced and got the edge—that doesn’t justify how my batting is or how much pressure I’m taking. And I definitely believe in my mindset. I know how well I play under pressure. So I just want to keep that faith in me and go forward in the upcoming matches,” he said.