‘Must play Sooryavanshi in England’, Gavaskar commands India management:’Players bred on concrete pitches’, fans give reality check

India’s remarkable dominance in T20Is came to an end on Sunday. Despite leading the team to two T20 World Cup titles, Suryakumar Yadav was replaced as captain and left out of the squad as the BCCI handed the leadership to Shreyas Iyer in June 2026. But the new era began with a major setback as India suffered a 2-0 series defeat to Ireland. The loss ended India’s incredible streak of 16 consecutive unbeaten T20I series and tournaments, while also marking their first T20I series defeat in 1,050 days. It is a result that has sparked widespread discussion, with fans and cricket experts like Sunil Gavaskar reflecting on the end of one of the most successful phases in India’s T20I history. ‘Team India must play Sooryavanshi in England T20Is’: Sunil Gavaskar While speaking to the media about Ireland’s historic clean sweep against India and delay to Sooryavanshi’s debut, Gavaskar responded, “They must play Sooryavanshi in the 1st T20I against England. It is straight, you bench the out-of-form batters, or you can let Vaibhav bat at number 3 and not disturb the opening combination.” He further added, “Even the middle order can be shuffled, considering Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson have produced phenomenal results for the past one and a half years. With Sooryavanshi at number 3, Ishan Kishan at 4, and Shreyas at 5, the team can adjust the batting combination to fit Vaibhav.” As Gavaskar reflected on giving the 15-year-old a chance to prove himself while acknowledging the risk of losing as well, but on the condition of testing talent, not suffering a full-fledged humiliation. Meanwhile, fans slammed Team India for a historic loss against Ireland on the social media platform X. X (formerly Twitter) reactions to India’s historic loss to Ireland 1. ‘Such a shame’: The social media platform X gathered a mix of reactions from Team India fans to the historic loss that the T20 World Cup champions suffered at the hands of the minnows. Reacting to it, a fan wrote on X that it is a ‘shame’ for India to lose to Ireland. 2: ‘Out of World Cup, and lost to Ireland’: IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals took the conversation to a whole different level, mentioning how tragic Sunday was for Indian cricket fans as not only India lost to Ireland, but the Women in Blue also got knocked out of the T20 World Cup race. Moreover, Ben Stokes also announced his retirement from cricket. 3. ‘Cricket doesn’t care about reputation’: A cricket enthusiast posted about the unpredictability of cricket on X, mentioning how minnows beat bigwigs in international cricket, while India women’s team, who recently won the ODI World Cup, crashed out in the group stage itself. 4. ‘Players bred on concrete pitches in India’: Another user on X slammed the generation of players used to power hitting on the flat pitches in India, calling them ‘a bunch of players bred on concrete pitches in India, spoilt by Impact Players in IPL’. Meanwhile, he also called the 2024 T20 WC win better than that of 2026, since the former was won tacky pitches in away conditions. 5. ‘First in my bloodline to see India lose series to Ireland’: A cricket parody account on X, criticised the Indian team cricket performance in a light-hearted manner, writing, “First in my bloodline to see India lose series to Ireland in cricket.’ 6. ‘Nice wakeup call to get out of IPL hangover’: Another user echoed the sentiment of IPL pitches ruining the players. He said on X, “I don’t want to blame Gautam Gambhir for loss. I feel it is a positive thing that India lost to Ireland. It is a nice wakeup call to get out of the IPL hangover.”