IPL puts heavy makeup on batters: Sanjay Manjrekar on India’s T20I debacle

Former India batsman Sanjay Manjrekar has blamed India’s disappointing T20I campaign overseas on the batsmen-friendly environment of the IPL, saying the focus should be on addressing structural issues in the league rather than holding the players solely responsible for the team’s failures.

Fresh from defending the T20 World Cup title and starting a new chapter under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer, India endured a miserable tour of the UKlost the two-match T20I series in Ireland before suffering a 0-4 defeat to England in the five-match series, with the opener dropped. It was India’s first T20I series or tournament defeat in three years.

After the losses, Manjrekar said the IPL gives an inflated picture of a batsman’s ability and urged selectors to look beyond league performances when selecting teams for overseas assignments.

“It would be easier to hold the players accountable for this overseas T20 failure. The right thing to do would be to hold accountable those who have made the IPL so hard to replace Indian batsmen,” Manjrekar wrote on X.

He said the onus is now on the selectors to look beyond IPL performances when building India’s T20 side for overseas jobs.

“The challenge for the selectors is to imagine Indian batters without the heavy IPL make-up and pick only those for India. A lot of T20 cricket will now be overseas. The domestic entertainment is over.”

FLAT IPL COURT GUILTY

Manjrekar’s comments come after the Indian batting struggled throughout the tour. The defending champions have struggled to cope with seam movement and disciplined pace bowling in Ireland and England, raising fresh questions about whether the IPL is preparing batsmen for the demands of overseas cricket.

The IPL has often been criticized for favoring batsmen through flat pitches, shorter boundaries and high-scoring contests. While these conditions have made for entertaining cricket, critics believe they also encourage a power approach at the expense of building the innings and adapting to conditions where the ball swings and seams.

The Impact Player tournament rule was also at the center of the debate. The regulation allows teams to trade a specialty hitter for a specialty pitcher during a game, reducing the need to invest in true all-around machines.

Former India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel recently raised similar concerns, saying the Impact Player rule has contributed to India’s dearth of quality all-rounders. He argued that this rule discouraged teams from supporting players capable of contributing with both bat and ball.

India now turn their attention to the ODI series against England before traveling to Zimbabwe for a three-match T20I series starting on July 23. They will face another tough overseas challenge later this year when they travel to New Zealand for five T20Is, five ODIs and two Tests.

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Issued by:

Saurabh Kumar

Published on:

Jul 12, 2026 1:16 PM IST