India’s recent away struggles discussed at BCCI review meeting in Mumbai, plans better SENA strategy

India ODI and Test skipper Shubman Gill, T20I captain Shreyas Iyer and head coach Gautam Gambhir arrive for the review meeting at the Wankhede on Thursday. Pics/Ashish Raje

[popcorn number="Zero" desc="No. of T20Is India won against Ireland and England recently; they lost six games, while one was washed out" class="Default"]

After a high-profile review meeting at the BCCI's Wankhede headquarters on Thursday, which was attended by Test and ODI skipper Shubman Gill, T20I captain Shreyas Iyer, head coach Gautam Gambhir, BCCI's Centre of Excellence (CoE) head VVS Laxman, BCCI president Mithun Manhas, and secretary Devajit Saikia, the latter admitted that Team India's away defeats in the recent past have been disappointing.

India lost a T20I series in Ireland (0-2) last June, followed by a 0-4 defeat in five T20Is and a 1-2 loss in ODIs to England a month later, before beating hosts Sri Lanka 1-0 in a two-Test series recently.

"Yes, we did not do well and lost matches in Ireland and also in England in that T20 and ODI series, so we wanted to know the reasons, so that we can do some soul-searching about that. Also, for the future, we have chalked out some strategies when it comes to travelling to any of the SENA countries [South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia]," Saikia said in reply to a question from mid-day.

About the speculation surrounding the future of India's ODI opener Rohit Sharma, Saikia replied:

"He [Rohit] is playing superbly in all matches. What more do you want?
In the last match [vs England] he scored 138 runs [at Lord's on July 19]. So, why is there a speculation? I do not want to give fodder to speculators."

Interestingly, chief selector Ajit Agarkar was a notable absentee at the meeting.

"He [Agarkar] was out of station, so could not be part of the meeting as it was called at a very short notice," said Saikia.