"Loss to West Indies should not be a dampener" - Sunil Gavaskar reminds India for a wake-up call

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar said that India's recent T20I series defeat against the West Indies in the five-match series should serve as a wake-up call for Hardik Pandya's men to improve in certain areas.

The visitors fought back after losing the first two matches to level the series 2-2. However, a 107-run stand between Nicholas Pooran (47) and Brandon King (85*) along with disciplined bowling efforts from the bowlers were instrumental for Rovman Powell's men to clinch the series 3-2.

In his monthly column for Sportstar, Gavaskar mentioned that the series loss against the two-time T20 World champions should not be subdued.

Sunil Gavaskar wrote:

"The loss to West Indies should not be a dampener. Don’t forget that they have won the ICC T20 World Cup twice, and their players are matchwinners for the different franchises they play for in the IPL. So, they are a top-class T20 team, and there’s no shame in losing to them."

The 74-year-old further pointed out that India should look for long-term replacements for rested players like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

He added:

"It should be a wake-up call, though, to see the areas where India needs to improve to strengthen its side. Some of those who were rested for this series may not be around for too long, so their replacements need to be found pretty quickly too, as the next ICC T20 World Cup is just a year away."

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"It wasn’t the full-strength Indian T20 team" - Sunil Gavaskar

Ever since India's humiliating exit in the T20 World Cup 2022 semi-final against eventual champions England, senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Ravichandran Ashwin haven't featured in the shortest format.

Gavaskar noted that the youngsters lack temperament at this point, and the absence of senior players made the squad look feeble.

The former India captain mentioned:

"That said, it would do well to remember that some key regular members of the team had been rested for this series, so it wasn’t the full-strength Indian T20 team. While some performances were good, others were disappointing, raising question marks about the temperament factor."

He added:

"At the highest level, it’s always the temperament that separates the men from the boys, and there can be nothing more testing than an international game."

India will next play three T20 Internationals against Ireland in Dublin under Jasprit Bumrah's leadership, with the series starting on August 18.