IND vs ENG: Things fall apart as Shreyas Iyer's India lose second consecutive T20I series

A listless Indian team was blown away by Harry Brook’s England as the hosts beat the visitors by nine wickets in the fourth T20I of the five-match series. Brook’s England completed their series win over India with a ruthless batting performance at the County Ground on Thursday.

It was too easy for England as they chased down the target of 159 in just 13.5 overs to hand India and Shreyas Iyer their fifth loss in six matches. The defeat meant that India lost the T20I series for the first time in almost seven years.

The last time the men in blue lost back-to-back T20I series was in 2018-19, when the Virat Kohli-led side lost 1-2 to New Zealand before suffering a 0-2 loss at home to Australia.

IND vs ENG Highlights, 5th T20I

India captain Shreyas Iyer could hardly be blamed for the defeat as he single-handedly kept India in the game, scoring more than half the team’s runs while wickets fell around him. India’s batting line-up was once again a mess, with Shivam Dube batting at No.5, Tilak Varma at No.6 and Axar Patel inexplicably batting at No.8.

None of the batsmen, except Shreyas (80* off 49), made a run, which meant that only one Indian batsman scored over 150 in the match.

The Indian batsmen had little idea of which areas to focus on and were far behind in terms of preparation. India did not bowl a single run and aimed for the short fine leg boundary, which proved to be the pick of England’s batsmen in the second innings.

The defeat is a terrible stain on Shreyas Iyer’s captaincy, with the skipper remaining winless in his first six T20Is as India’s captain. Shreyas’ measured batting might have saved India in the first innings, but that did not translate into an inspired performance with the ball in the second.

Early no-balls from Prasidh Krishna and Prince Yadav set the tone for India as they defended 159 and canceled out Arshdeep Singh’s early breakthrough with the wicket of Jose Buttler.

After Buttler’s dismissal, Harry Brook and Phil Salt took charge of the innings. After settling down for a couple of overs, Brook was on fire in India’s eighth match, smashing 19 runs off Washington Sundar.

It was a landslide from there, with the pair adding a combined 146 runs before completing the chase in 13.5 overs.

More to follow…

– The end

Issued by:

Kingshuk Kusari

Published on:

10 Jul 2026 01:00 IST