Shreyas Iyer "Must be Angry" But Still Dinesh Karthik Finds His Post-Match Atrocious Statement 'Odd'
India captain Shreyas Iyer was furious after his team's crushing 125-run defeat to England in the third T20 International, describing the performance as "atrocious" and admitting such a heavy loss was "not acceptable"
- India lost to England by 125 runs in the third T20 International match
- Shreyas Iyer called the team's performance atrocious and unacceptable
- "It was interesting, maybe odd, for the captain to come down quite hard on the batting unit," Karthik said
India captain Shreyas Iyer was furious after his team's crushing 125-run defeat to England in the third T20 International, describing the performance as "atrocious" and admitting such a heavy loss was "not acceptable". Under Iyer, India are yet to win a T20 International, and Tuesday's outing marked an abject surrender as they were bowled out for 76 in just 11.4 overs while chasing 202, suffering their biggest defeat in the format in terms of runs.
"It was atrocious. Losing by that margin is not acceptable. First things first, we have to accept the loss and go back to the drawing board," Iyer said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The win handed England an unassailable 2-0 lead in the five-match series ahead of the fourth T20I in Bristol on Thursday and the final in Southampton on Saturday. The opening match was a washout.
Former India star Dinesh Karthik found Iyer's words odd but acknowledged that he had every right to feel disgruntled.
"Yes, India did not bat well. Probably one of the worst batting performances in a long time. But it was interesting, maybe odd, you can say, for the captain to come down quite hard on the batting unit. He used the word atrocious to describe their batting; he used the word awful as well," Karthik said on Cricbuzz.
"You could see how disgruntled and a little upset he was, and he must be angry, understandably so. But knowing Shreyas Iyer, he has to come back because he is such a key member of that batting unit that when he scores, the team looks different, as we have seen with PBKS (Punjab Kings). He is such a critical component of this batting order as well."
After winning the T20 World Cup 2026 final, India have lost two T20Is each against Ireland and England, while one match was washed out.
"What's happening to Team India? Four of the last five matches have been lost, and we are the world champions at the moment. The pitch was probably a little slow, but you expected 200 to be the par score. We felt India could have, and should have, chased that down," Karthik said.
Dinesh Karthik
India Cricket Team
England Cricket Team