Sunil Gavaskar Identifies India's Biggest Weakness Ahead Of T20I Series Decider

A loss in a home T20I series is a rarity for the Indian cricket team. They have not lost a T20I series at home since 2019. Yet, that is what the Shreyas Iyer-led side faces as it heads into the fifth T20I against West Indies on Saturday. The series is level at 2-2 after India lost the fourth T20I on Wednesday. Former captain Sunil Gavaskar wants Indian batters to take more responsibility while chasing after the hosts' loss to West Indies in the fourth T20 International in Hyderabad.

Despite Sanju Samson scoring a brisk fifty, India failed to overhaul West Indies' total of 247 for three in the fourth T20I on Wednesday. Keemo Paul took five wickets as West Indies bowled India out for 223 to secure a 24-run victory, pushing the five-match series into a decider in Bengaluru.

"The first thing this Indian side needs to improve is how they chase. The batting unit needs to show more responsibility. If the batters don't take responsibility, this Indian side will not succeed," Gavaskar told JioStar. "On a pitch like this, with the dew coming in, you have to show the kind of dominance with the bat that a back-to-back T20 World Cup-winning team should, but that was missing completely in this game," he added.

Gavaskar said the Shreyas Iyer-led side should have capitalised on the start provided by Samson (56 off 23 balls).

"Sanju gave India a great start, but the rest of the batters didn't capitalise at all. Abhishek Sharma played a poor knock, which is not acceptable by his standards. Ishan Kishan fell right into Keemo Paul's trap, and Shreyas Iyer has not got going since his hundred," he said.

The 77-year-old, however, did not blame the bowlers for conceding a big total. "Yes, I know the bowling has been poor, but these bowlers are not experienced. They are new to international cricket, and they will need to get hit for boundaries; otherwise, they will not learn," he said.

West Indies skipper Shai Hope scored his second hundred of the series to lay the foundation for his side's win.

Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara said Hope had found the perfect balance in his batting.

"Hope has been a problem for India in this white-ball series, and what stands out is that he does not rely on blind slogging. He backs his natural game and picks his gaps. That is why he scores so quickly without taking too many risks.

"He's also a good player of spin because this pitch was a little challenging for the batters to dominate the spinners.

"But he had a lot of clarity. When a batter has that kind of control, it becomes very difficult for the bowlers to build pressure," said Pujara.

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