India head coach Gautam Gambhir urged his team to improve its bowling after the West Indies chased down a target of 250 in the second T20I in Ranchi. The visitors won the match by six wickets to level the five-match series 1-1.

India managed to take three wickets during the powerplay, but Shai Hope and Sherfane Rutherford turned the game around with an outstanding partnership. Hope remained unbeaten on 102, while Rutherford smashed 84 off just 37 balls, helping the West Indies complete their highest successful T20I chase.

Gambhir admitted that bowling in conditions with heavy dew was difficult, but stressed that India needed to find ways to handle such situations instead of making excuses for the defeat.

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Gambhir Says India Cannot Ignore Bowling Problems

Gambhir said the team must learn from every defeat if it wants to continue improving. He also pointed out that being world champions should bring greater responsibility rather than protect the team from criticism.

“You don’t shrug off any defeat. If you want to keep improving, you don’t want to put anything under the carpet. We are a world-champion team, so we want to keep improving,” Gambhir said during the post-match press conference.

He acknowledged that bowling on a flat pitch with dew making conditions difficult was a challenge. However, he believes India must find solutions, particularly after getting the West Indies under pressure early in the innings.

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India had reduced the visitors to three wickets inside the powerplay, but Hope and Rutherford took control of the chase and prevented the hosts from building on that early advantage.

Gambhir also praised the two West Indies batters for the way they handled the pressure and took their team towards victory.

India coach wants fair contest between bat and ball

The game also raised questions over T20I cricket’s balance between bat and ball when teams are playing on surfaces which are friendly to batters.

India had posted 249/5 after Sanju Samson scored 82 off 41 balls, while Tilak Varma added 44 runs. However, the West Indies chased down the total with four wickets remaining, making the contest another high-scoring affair.

When asked about the conditions, Gambhir said he wanted pitches to offer a fair contest between batters and bowlers. He also highlighted the hard work put in by India’s bowlers and the importance of giving them a reasonable chance to compete.

“You don’t want a good bat-and-ball competition?” Gambhir asked. “What you want to see, that’s also what we want to see. We also want to see an even contest.”

“These bowlers are our bowlers, not someone else’s bowlers. Their careers are at stake, they have worked hard to sit in this dressing room. If it’s an even competition, we’ll see a better game of cricket,” he added.

Gambhir Backs Mayank Yadav’s Pace-First Approach

Despite India’s defeat, young fast bowler Mayank Yadav made an early impact. He struck twice in the opening over, putting the West Indies under immediate pressure, before India claimed another wicket during the powerplay.

However, the hosts could not maintain that momentum as Hope and Rutherford added 120 runs together to put the chase firmly back on track. Rutherford scored his 84 off 37 deliveries before Hope finished the job with an unbeaten century.

Gambhir backed Mayank’s decision to stick to his natural strength of bowling fast rather than relying on slower deliveries to contain the batters.


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