Former India cricket team coach Abhishek Nayar stressed on the need for the team management to create direction for players, and not chaos. His remarks comes after England completed a clean sweep of the Men in Blue in the five-match T20I series, marking the second consecutive series defeat for Shreyas Iyer and co. While addressing the problems of the spin department in the Indian T20I setup, Nayar pointed out that the Gautam Gambhir-led support staff will need to work closely with the existing set of players and not discard them.
‘Create direction, not chaos’
Speaking on JioStar’s Match Centre Live, Nayar claimed that Axar Patel was an easy target for the England batters as he was not only out of form but but also did not get the drift that he gets while bowling in India. The former Indian coach stressed on the need for India to remain consistent with their spinners and not discard them quickly. Abhishek noted that Kuldeep Yadav was going in and out of the team frequently, while Varun Chakravarthy was dealing with a fair share of injuries. Nayar urged spin bowling coach Sairaj Bahutale to work closely with the bowlers.
“Sairaj Bahutule and the support staff need to work with these guys with the future in mind, not discard players. Tell players what you expect from them and where you want them to get better. When you lose, you need to create direction, not chaos,” Nayar said.
The Indian spinners were particularly very poor in the recently concluded ENG vs IND ODI series. Axar managed to get just 2 wickets in 4 matches, conceding 156 runs at an economy rate of over 11. Varun, who was ruled out of the 5th T20I due to an injury, managed to pick up just 2 wickets while he conceded 72 runs in the 7 overs that he bowled. Kuldeep wasn’t even picked for the series. Meanwhile, Ravi Bishnoi featured in just one game where he was quite disastourous with the ball. The spinner, who returned to the Indian T20I setup after a sub-par IPL 2026 season, conceded 60 runs in his 4 overs in the ENG vs IND 3rd T20I, including a 29-run over.
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