Gautam Gambhir reflects on India's heavy loss to England

India head coach Gautam Gambhir has stressed that adaptability to conditions remains a work in progress for his side as they allowed England to take a 2-0 lead in the five-match T20I series after their 125-run loss at Trent Bridge on Tuesday. This was their biggest-ever defeat in T20Is.

The coach felt some of his experienced batters needed to adapt to the conditions and apply themselves better, pointing to their performances during the trimphant ICC Men's T20 World Cup campaign earlier this year.

"I think that it is important to assess the conditions, no doubt about that," Gambhir said.

"But it is also important (to know) how to read the game. Breeze can play a huge part as well. Sometimes one side where the dimensions are much bigger than the other side. So, these small things in a T20 game can make a huge difference."

A big factor, in Gambhir's opinion, was the tactics that India were employing in their batting innings.

"When everyone in a batting line-up starts playing high risk, high reward, sometimes these things can happen. Probably the middle order, the experienced guys who have played enough international cricket, need to adapt and probably play according to the situation as well."

The India head coach went back to the T20 World Cup, and stated that the team's judgment in this respect was better during the tournament.

"We did that during the World Cup as well. Our top three were firing and we wanted to play that high risk, high reward, but then we had (Nos.) 4 or 5 who were still able to build the innings and probably anchor the innings as well, and that is something that we lacked today."

Gambhir also pointed to the changes to the setup as one of the reasons for his team's poor performance.

"Conditions matter a little but if you see there are changes," he said. 

"When you go for that reset, it takes a bit of time. If you see, a 15-year-old (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi) is opening, Prince Yadav is in his second T20I, Harshit Rana is coming back from an injury. We ultimately look only at results, and no doubt results are important in international cricket, but we have to be practical as well," he said.

"Sometimes you give players time to develop. England is a high-quality side. If you put players in against such teams, you have to give them time to develop. Because after a reset, things take time," he added.

Turning to Samson, who was the Player of the Tournament at the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in March but hasn't been in the thick of things since (six runs in three T20I outings), Gambhir was firm that the batter has not been left in the dark over his exclusion.

While Samson remains part of the squad for the remainder of the England series, he has been left out entirely of the touring party for the subsequent three-match series in Zimbabwe.

"I have already given clarity to Sanju Samson from my side," he said, adding that the specifics of that conversation would remain between coach and player. 

"We are absolutely clear that Sanju, what he had done for India during the (T20) World Cup has been phenomenal, and sometimes you just have to look at the form as well of a certain player. And there is no hard and fast rule that he cannot make a comeback in this series," he added.

India take on England in the fourth T20I at Bristol on 9 July knowing they need to win to keep the series alive.