​Sanjay Manjrekar believes India’s T20I series defeat to Ireland exposed a fragile middle order, as the team relied too heavily on all-rounders under Gautam Gambhir. In the 0-2 whitewash, India’s batting collapsed in the middle, with players like Shivam Dube, Washington Sundar, and Axar Patel contributing as qualifiers rather than anchors. Sundar was dropped for the second match and was replaced by another all-rounder, Suryansh Shedge, who managed just one run in a narrow one-run defeat. Manjrekar, reacting after the defeat, said that it’s “too little earlier… under Gambhir, it’s too many. The ‘all rounders’. India need a PURE middle order batter, pronto!” The second match echoed the first, as India faltered early at 19/3 while chasing, despite some resistance from Tilak Varma.
Ireland’s triumph marked a historic upset, handing India their first bilateral T20I series loss in Belfast after winning the opening game by 34 runs and then clinching the second by a single run. In Dublin, India struggled to adapt to conditions favorable to seam movement, with their top order failing and only sporadic contributions from players like Varma offering brief hope. The series has reignited debate over India’s evolving T20 identity and whether Gambhir’s multi-skill strategy has come at the expense of a stable, high-scloor middle order.