Sanjay Manjrekar backs Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer after India's poor T20I campaign

Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has backed Gautam Gambhir and Shreyas Iyer despite the team's humiliating T20I series loss to England, where India failed to win a single match and lost 4-0 with one game abandoned due to rain. While questions are being raised over the captain and head coach following the series, Manjrekar believes making immediate changes at the top is not the answer.

India's squad for the tour was largely selected based on strong performances in the Indian Premier League 2026. Manjrekar says the batters and team were poorly prepared for overseas conditions. Under Iyer's captaincy, Team India has now lost six back-to-back matches across Ireland and England.

"The easiest thing to do for India would be to sack Gautam Gambhir, sack the captain, sack some of the players who didn't perform well in Ireland and England. That would be the easy thing to do. The right thing to do would be to identify the main reason for India's setback. And the main reason is that these T20 matches were played in Ireland and England, in overseas conditions," Manjrekar said on Instagram.

Why does IPL's batting-friendly setup create problems for Indian batters?

The former cricketer expressed deep concern over how IPL pitches flatter batters from India. Manjrekar shifted the blame to selectors in his follow-up comments.

"The IPL puts on a very heavy makeup on Indian batters. The IPL batting conditions are the easiest I've ever seen in my life. And that is why it flatters to deceive. And that is why you see so many batters at the top of the order doing the crazy things that they do.  So you don't really know which player will do well when there is something there for the bowlers. And it's not as easy as batting on a marble sheet as it's in the IPL," Manjrekar said.

"The easy thing would be is to hold players responsible for this overseas T20 setback. The right thing would be is to hold those responsible who have made IPL such, that it puts a heavy make up on Indian batters," he wrote on X. 

India now face their longest-ever winless run in T20I cricket with seven matches without a win. India's next assignment is a three-match ODI series against England, beginning Tuesday, July 14, followed by a tour to Zimbabwe for a three-match T20I series starting July 23.