This series loss was not one thing. It was a culmination of many things.

This might be a little long read so bear with me.

This series loss against England was inevitable. Especially after the whitewash against Ireland.

And no, unlike what most people would like to scream about- this had almost NOTHING to do with our batters being "flat track bullies".

Everything started going to shit the moment SKY was removed as captain unceremoniously right after winning the T20 WC. He should have, at the very least, given time till the England series to prove his form. When you remove a captain like SKY- who had been like a big brother figure to the team- it creates an unease, insecurities within the camp.

If that was not bad enough, they parachuted in a captain directly to the side who hadn't been a part of the team for 3 years. What could possibly go wrong? EVERYTHING!

Bringing Shreyas to the T20 side wasn't a bad idea. But he should've been brought in as a player NOT a captain. He should have to prove his place first like everyone before had to. This completely avoidable move created further insecurities, maybe even resentments in the camp.

A WC winning team DOES NOT need a reset. ICT and BCCI weren't showing "CA levels of ruthlessness". All they did was show that they run a cricket team on IPL numbers, social media noise, and vibes.

Which brings me to the decision that's probably cherry on top of this rotten cake- fast-tracking Vaibhav into the men's team.

Social media and general media noise to include him in everything was immense, no doubt. But a competent board and management would know better than to give in to it.

And I gotta give it to the English media and ex-cricketers. They had fully planned and orchestrated this entire "Boy Wonder" narrative to prop him up like their lives depended on it. Of course, dumbasses like Ravi Shastri supported it wholeheartedly just to have his own "F**k GG" moment.

They KNEW that it'd work like magic to feed a temperamental teenager's ego and make it bloated to the point that he continues disregarding and not respecting the opposition bowlers like he was doing in IPL. They KNEW that it'd make him play rash shots like he did today.

They wanted to break that "Boy Wonder" narrative and use him as an example to shit on IPL and its pitches. Basically, continuing the very narrative Livingstone was setting up in one of his interviews. They got even luckier because thanks to their efforts, they got more than what they asked for- batting lineup failures match after match, Sanju getting dropped, more outrage, more outside noise, most players being under tremendous pressure etc etc.

I fully believe this team will bounce back if they rectify their mistakes. At least bring SKY back. Remove Tilak, Sundar, Krishna. Give Sanju the no.3 batting position and see how he does there.

That's all for the night!