Shreyas Iyer dissects India's shortcomings following historic series loss to Ireland: 'We fell short in...'

India T20 captain Shreyas Iyer pinpoints the team's wayward batting as one of the key shortcomings behind their 0-2 series defeat to Ireland on Sunday in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Ireland secured a historic series sweep over Team India after winning the second and final T20 match by one run at the Civil Service Cricket Club in Stormont. The hosts' bowlers managed to claim timely spells, restricting the Men in Blue's momentum, who managed to take the game down to the wire. 

But the hosts maintained their composure to seal a series victory, ending India's 16-match win streak in T20 international cricket.

Ireland had defeated India by 34 runs in the series-opening T20 match on Friday, with Matthew Hollard and Jai Moondra emerging as the standout players.

'They definitely outplayed us'

Speaking at the post-match presentation, Iyer admitted it was 'not a great series' and congratulated Ireland for the way they played. The middle-order batter admitted that the hosts outplayed them in analysing how the conditions would play out and failing to convert singles into double runs.

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"Absolutely. I feel the bowlers, they were phenomenal in terms of their executions today. But we fell a bit short in our batting. We were, we fell a bit short in terms of analysing how the wicket is going to play and also converting singles into twos. I think they definitely outplayed us in that department," Iyer said.

Iyer heaped praise on Prince Yadav following impactful debut

Iyer also expressed his thoughts on Prince Yadav's T20 international debut, saying that the seamer brought valuable IPL experience and carried confidence in Stormont, as he applied his own ideas and strategy with the ball. He also namedropped Suryansh Shedge, noting that he would learn from the experience.

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"Definitely, as I mentioned earlier, that he’s (Prince) got great experience in the IPL and he carries that momentum over here as well. He has his own set of ideas and plans when it comes down to the ball. But the attitude and approach which he had, and also Suryansh, I mean, it was his first game, but yeah, he’outside the leg-stump definitely learn from this," Iyer added.

After India's 0-2 series defeat to Ireland, their next big assignment would be the five-match T20 series against England, starting July 1, 2026.