The T20 world champions had shockingly lost the two-match T20I series against minnows Ireland as well. One major concern for Team India will be their middle-order batting. In the second T20I match as well, Indians got off to a flying start with 50 runs in first five overs as 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi finally made his debut and opened the innings alongside Abhishek Sharma.
But the Indian middle-order failed to capitalise on the blazing start and were restricted to a modest total of 190 runs after batting first. Tilak Varma struggled to get his innings going and only managed to get his strike-rate up with a couple of sixes off Jofra Archer in the final over of the innings.
Former India cricketer Irfan Pathan believes Team India need more firepower to back up the likes of captain Iyer and Ishan Kishan in the middle order. He is also concerned by the number of left-handed batters in the side with Sooryavanshi being the latest addition along side Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Tilak Varma, Shivam Dube and Axar Patel.
Pathan urged the BCCI selectors to bring in two-time IPL title-winning captain Rajat Patidar into the T20I side. “Looking at the number of left-hand batters in the Indian T20 team right now, it’s even more of a reason for Team India to look at Rajat Patidar going forward,” Pathan posted on X.
“I really hope he gets an opportunity, especially since there is still plenty of time for Team India to experiment before the next T20 World Cup,” he added.
Patidar is yet to play any T20I cricket for Team India but was retained for Rs 11 crore by Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru ahead of IPL 2026 season. He has scored 3389 runs in his T20 career at a strike-rate of 160.08 with 1 hundred and 31 fifties.
In IPL 2026, Patidar scored 501 runs in 15 matches at a strike-rate of 192.69 with five fifties. Overall, Patidar has scored 1612 runs in his IPL career with a strike-rate of 164.48 with 1 hundred and 14 fifties.
Team India will now take on England in the third T20I of the five-match series at the Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Tuesday. England are 1-0 up in the series with 3 games remaining.