Cricket legend and former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has issued a sharp warning to India's batting unit ahead of the T20I series decider against West Indies at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday, saying the side's chronic struggles while chasing must be urgently addressed if the hosts are to clinch the series.

Gavaskar's Core Concern: Batting Responsibility

Speaking to JioStar after India's latest defeat, Gavaskar drew a pointed contrast between the team's status as back-to-back T20 World Cup champions and their underwhelming execution in the chase. He identified the inability of the middle order to capitalise on an early platform — provided by Sanju Samson — as the defining failure of the match.

'The first thing this Indian side needs to improve is how they chase. On a pitch like this, with the dew coming in, you have to show the kind of dominance with the bat that a back-to-back T20 World Cup winning team should, but that was missing completely in this game. Sanju gave India a great start, but the rest of the batters didn't capitalise at all,' Gavaskar said.

Individual Failures Under the Spotlight

Gavaskar named specific players in his critique. He described Abhishek Sharma's dismissal as 'not acceptable by his standards,' pointed to Ishan Kishan's failure against Keemo Paul as walking into a trap, and noted that Shreyas Iyer has struggled to find consistent form since his century. Taken together, these individual lapses compounded into a collective batting collapse that allowed West Indies to wrest back control of the contest.

A Word of Context on India's Bowling

Notably, Gavaskar did not absolve the bowling unit entirely but offered a more measured assessment. He acknowledged that India's bowlers are inexperienced at the international level and argued that conceding boundaries is part of their learning curve. 'These bowlers are not experienced. They are new to international cricket, and they will need to get hit for boundaries, otherwise they will not learn,' he said — effectively placing the burden of the series result squarely on the batting side.

The Blueprint for the Decider

Gavaskar laid out a clear strategy for Saturday's series decider: bat first, post a total of 240 to 250, and then contain West Indies to a low score. His reasoning centred on the dew factor at Bengaluru, which makes defending totals progressively harder as the innings advances — a condition that has repeatedly worked against the chasing side in this series. 'If the batters don't take responsibility, this Indian side will not succeed,' he added, in what amounts to the starkest public accountability call ahead of a series finale.

What's at Stake at Chinnaswamy

The decider at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday tests more than tactical adjustments — it is a referendum on India's ability to respond to pressure after a defeat. West Indies, by keeping the series alive with an impressive all-round display, have demonstrated they are capable of exploiting India's vulnerabilities. For a team that carries the weight of two consecutive World Cup titles, a home series loss to the Caribbean side would be a significant morale setback ahead of upcoming international commitments.