India’s T20I captain Shreyas Iyer has backed his team to bounce back after a depressing 2-0 series loss against Ireland. India was stunned by the Irish team as the home side won the opening game by 34 runs and then won the second game by one run.

Iyer admitted that they didn’t expect Ireland to play that well and it was evident that India could not adapt to the conditions. Furthermore, Iyer’s team was not up to the mark in all three departments of the game and could not deliver as a unit.

“It wasn’t embarrassing, but it was depressing for us, because we definitely didn’t expect Ireland to play that well,” Shreyas said on the eve of the first T20I at Chester-le-Street. “They outplayed us in every department, they had brilliant ideas about the dimensions of the ground, and we fell short in terms of analysing and planning the ground and the dimensions, and how the wicket would be played. So kudos to them, credit to them, but we learnt a lot from that series.”

Shreyas said the English conditions will throw a new challenge and he is confident that his team will come up with an improved performance.

He added, “This is completely a new chapter for us coming in here. A couple of us have played in England before, and we know the conditions, we know the ideas, we know the dimensions over here. So looking forward for [sic] an intense and challenging series.”

Shreyas also downplayed suggestions that the shortcomings exposed against Ireland would continue to haunt them. 

He concluded, “No, those shortcomings are no longer there,” he said. “As I mentioned earlier, a couple of us have played in England before, we know how the wickets are, usually we see it on TV as well. Belfast, we played after so many years. It’s not a reason, but I’m just saying that turning up over there and then getting acclimatised to the wicket, to the conditions, we fell a bit short in terms of reading the outfield, and getting accustomed to the conditions over there.”

The first T20I between India and England will be played on Wednesday.