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India captain Shreyas Iyer surprised a lot of people after he chose to bat first in the opening T20I vs England at the Riverside Ground, in Chester-le-Street. You know, it was all a bit cloudy, rain expected to hover around, and there was a good chunk of grass on the pitch. So naturally many thought India would rather bowl first, especially after winning the toss.

But then Iyer went with bat, and former India wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik feels like that call wasn’t random, and it came from India’s recent series defeat to Ireland.

India’s Ireland leg was rough, before the side even landed in England. Under Iyer, the team lost both T20Is while chasing. In the first game India got hammered by 34 runs, and in the second, they lost by just one run, which is the kind of thing that sticks in your head for ages.

Dinesh Karthik said:

“India choosing to bat, was a good decision, even though, obviously, there was a bit of weather around the corner constantly... The general tendency is to chase down totals.”

 

“It was a bit of an awkward evening here because rain was always looming around the corner, but I do think the Ireland hangover was there a bit. So, India decided , ‘let’s not chase and bat first’.“

 

Karthik also said India wanted to steer clear of yet another chase, because they had looked shaky in similar situations during that Ireland series.

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After winning the toss, Iyer admitted the team did learn from Ireland, but he also made it clear they want to push forward.

Iyer said:

“Ireland is history. It’s a new series, five games, everything to play for. Certainly, this is a great opportunity for us. This is my first, second actually, second series as a captain. So pretty much excited. We got what we wanted. We got a session of practice over here yesterday, pretty much acclimatized to the surroundings as well. So, looking forward to an exciting one.

 

“We’ve got to learn a lot from that (Ireland) series. And coming over here, we know how England has been playing their cricket. So definitely slightly upbeat , know their strengths and weaknesses, so looking forward to having a great one.”

 

About the pitch, Iyer added :

“There’s a pretty decent amount of grass on the wicket. We practiced yesterday as well on the same one. So, can’t actually predict how the wicket’s going to play, but definitely the intent is going to be high.”

India ended their innings on 189 for 7 after being asked to set a target. But then the weather didn’t cooperate. Continuous rain during the innings break stopped any further play, so the match was abandoned.

So even though there was no result, Iyer’s decision to bat first still became one of those big day topics, with Karthiksaying it was basically a reaction to India’s recent struggles when chasing in Ireland.