International Cricket Thread

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India's batting under the microscope after T20 defeats by England, Ireland​

Reuters
July 12, 2026



India's Tilak Varma walks after losing his wicket during the England v India match of the fifth T20 International at the Utilita Bowl, Southampton, Britain on July 11. — Reuters

Pundits and former players highlighted India’s struggles with the bat on Saturday after the Twenty20 World Cup champions suffered back-to-back series defeats by England and Ireland.

England beat India by 56 runs in the fifth and final T20I at Southampton, the hosts sealing a 4-0 series win after the opener ended in a no result due to rain. That series defeat came after Ireland had completed a 2-0 T20 whitewash last month.

Player-turned-commentator Dinesh Karthik said India’s batting unit had looked out of rhythm throughout the tour.

“I think India have a problem adapting to a little bit of extra bounce,” he told cricket news site Cricbuzz.

“The middle order looks wobbly, not confident, and it is definitely not the Indian team that we saw during the World Cup or before it in bilateral series, where they took down opponents and actually imposed a lot of fear. Where has that gone?”

India captain Shreyas Iyer said their failure to adapt to different conditions had cost them in the series.

“We kept on going from one venue to another, and we kept on facing challenges, especially in terms of the dimensions, the grounds, the conditions, just to adapt to it as quickly as we could have anticipated. That didn’t happen,” Iyer, who was appointed T20I captain in June, told reporters.

India great Sunil Gavaskar said the team’s batting had been having concerns throughout the series.

“I do believe that the batting has to really come to the party, because the batting is the strongest part of this Indian team, and if the strongest part is you know not doing well, then no wonder it has an effect on your bowling as well as your catching,” he added.

Commentator Harsha Bhogle said the defeat could be a wake up-call for India.

 

[SABRE]

Is anyone watching the Eng vs India match? What's up with the pitch? Bowlers are just fulfilling the formality of throwing the ball.

 

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ICC introduces new playing conditions with time-wasting penalties​

Usage of Pink-balls in day-time Tests is among other changes

Sports Desk
October 01, 2026

Photo: ICC

The International Cricket Council (ICC) introduced a series of changes to its Playing Conditions, including new measures to address time-wasting, standardise ball specifications and clarify certain aspects of fielding.

The changes come into effect for all the international series that start on October 1 or later, with ongoing series played as per previous regulations.

The updated Playing Conditions for Men and Women across all formats are now available in the Rules and Regulations section of the ICC website and incorporate changes to the MCC Laws of Cricket that come into effect today.

A look at key changes taking effect:

ALL FORMAT CHANGES

Penalties for Batters wasting time

This playing condition has been refined.

If a batter is not ready to face the ball within the prescribed time, a warning will be issued for the first offence, a final warning for the second, and five penalty runs awarded to the fielding side for the third and each subsequent offence.

 

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Tighter Tolerance for size and weight of Women’s Cricket Balls

The specifications for men’s cricket balls allow only a limited tolerance in size and weight.

For women’s and junior cricket, manufacturers have often produced a single ball for both categories.

New limits have now been introduced, establishing three distinct size and weight specifications for men’s, women’s and junior cricket.

Overthrows

Ambiguity over what constitutes an overthrow has been removed.

An overthrow is an attempt to direct the ball towards the stumps to prevent runs or effect a run-out. A misfield, whether an attempt to stop the ball or pass it to another fielder, does not constitute an overthrow.

Ball Settled

The umpire will now have greater leeway in determining whether a ball is finally settled, which can often be extremely important, particularly on the final ball of a close game. The ball no longer must necessarily be in the bowler’s or wicketkeeper’s hands to be finally settled.

Complete Control over the ball

For a ball to be considered held by a fielder for a run-out or stumping, the fielder must have complete control of the ball. Merely touching the ball with the hand while it breaks the stumps does not establish holding it.

 

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T20I AND ODI SPECIFIC

A fixed 15-minute interval is the rule now in T20I cricket. This can be reduced to a minimum of 10 minutes when time is lost.

Coaches in Drinks Break (ODIs and T20Is)

The ODI and T20I Playing Conditions are now aligned to allow the ‘Head Coach or their designate’ to enter the field of play at drinks intervals.

Wide Ball (ODIs and T20Is)

The new wide ball rule, which was initially trialled in the ODI and T20I format, has now been permanently added to the ODI and T20I Playing Conditions.

The rule was trialled in an effort to provide leniency for a bowler who saw the batter moving around prior or during a delivery. As part of the changes, the position of the batter’s legs at the point of delivery was used as the reference point for a wide, even if the batter subsequently moved across to the off side.