Former South Africa great AB de Villiers has offered words of advice to India head coach Gautam Gambhir following the team’s disappointing run in T20I cricket, which included a 0-2 series defeat to Ireland and a 4-0 loss to England.
Reflecting on India’s struggles, De Villiers pointed out that dominating the Indian Premier League (IPL) does not automatically guarantee success at the international level.
He stressed that performing for the national team is an entirely different challenge, where opponents are quick to expose even the smallest weaknesses and players have far less room for error than they do in franchise cricket.
“He (Gautam Gambhir) needs to take leadership and ownership of how this team will move forward. He’s got all the credentials to do so. Maybe this was not a bad thing to get a bit of a wake-up call. Bring those players who have scored so many runs in the IPL a little bit down to earth again,” AB de Villiers stated on his YouTube channel.
“Let them understand that this is international cricket; there’s no more weakness. In the IPL, there are always one or two bowlers you think you can score against. (In international cricket) there’s nowhere to hide, so you need to have more than one or two gears. You can’t always bat in the fifth gear,” AB de Villiers further said.
Consecutive T20I series defeats raise concerns
Despite winning three T20 World Cup titles, including the 2026 edition, India has established itself as one of the strongest teams in the shortest format. Backed by a robust domestic structure and the talent pipeline created by the IPL, the national side has never lacked quality players.
However, the recent results came as a major surprise. India first suffered a 2-0 series defeat to Ireland before being comprehensively beaten 4-0 by England under the captaincy of Shreyas Iyer.
The back-to-back losses have sparked questions about the team’s approach and consistency in T20Is. Nevertheless, former South Africa captain AB de Villiers believes the disappointing run could ultimately serve as a valuable learning experience for the team as it looks to regroup and improve.
