‘They thought it was a picnic’: Ex-cricketer tears into India team after Ireland shock

India vs. Ireland (agency image) Former India opener Sadagoppan Ramesh launched a scathing criticism of Team India’s approach following their 34-run defeat by Ireland in the opening T20I on Friday, accusing the visitors of taking the hosts too lightly and paying for their complacency.India’s batting collapsed in pursuit of 183, with the Shreyas Iyer-led side bowled out for 148 before completing their allotted 20 overs. The result also marked Ireland’s first win over India across all international formats.Ramesh felt that the defeat was rooted in overconfidence, suggesting that India had mentally focused on the upcoming England series instead of respecting their Irish opponents. He credited Ireland for executing their plans smartly, especially using bigger boundaries and peppering the Indian batting with short pitch bowling.“Ireland deserve credit for taking advantage of the bigger boundaries and testing the Indian batting with the short delivery. It was clear that India played the match casually. They thought the Ireland series was a picnic tour, they would win easily and they were serious about the England series. But Ireland taught India a lesson when they said this is no place for a picnic,” Ramesh said on his YouTube channel.India struggled throughout the chase with only Abhishek Sharma making a meaningful contribution. The left-handed opener blasted 49 off just 20 deliveries while the rest of the batting line-up, including skipper Shreyas Iyer, failed to deliver. Iyer’s stay at the crease lasted just seven balls.Ramesh continued his criticism, describing the Ireland series as an unexpected addition to India’s schedule, but insisted it could never justify the performance.“The Ireland series wasn’t even planned in the first place. It was like a pickle to the main course that was England. But India miserably failed to handle the spice of the pickle that is Ireland. No matter what excuses can be made for it, it’s a shocking and terrible defeat for Team India. Overconfidence is never healthy,” and it’s because of that last night that India had to be confident.Ramesh also termed the defeat as unacceptable considering that India entered the series as the reigning T20 World Cup champions. He questioned how a side that had spent months playing T20 cricket at the highest level, including the World Cup and the IPL, could falter so badly against Ireland.“Yes, even an elephant slips sometimes. But how can this happen against Ireland? This is a shock, especially for a team whose last T20 match was the World Cup final. After a month of T20 cricket in the World Cup, all the Indian players played another 3 months of IPL. To play 4 months of continuous T20 cricket and then lose to Ireland,” said Ramesh.The former batsman also pointed to India’s sloppy fielding as another major reason for the defeat, stressing that repeated dropped catches allowed Ireland to post a challenging total in excess of 180. He further argued that the Impact Player rule in the IPL allowed some players to mask fielding deficiencies, which is not possible in international cricket.“India have played shockingly bad cricket. Until yesterday they were dropping catches from the T20 World Cup in the IPL. They always seem to bowl high catches. In the IPL you can just bat or shuffle and hide your field because of the Impact Player option. But in international cricket you have to be a good fielder to be in the 11 under the IPL rule. Many players have escaped the IPL rule.”