India's T20 world champions suffered their fifth consecutive defeat on Thursday, losing the fourth T20 against England by nine wickets in Bristol. The result gave England an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series, with the opener washed out.

The loss follows a 2-0 series whitewash in Ireland last month. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Devajit Saikia told AFP that a review meeting will be held after the England tour ends on July 19.

"The BCCI is currently observing the performance of the Indian T20 team which has not been up to the mark," Saikia said. "We will have a review meeting with the core members of the team to discuss what went wrong in England."

India, who won the T20 World Cup in March, have seen a dramatic dip in form. In Bristol, they managed 158-7, a target England chased down with nine wickets and more than six overs to spare. Days earlier, India were dismissed for just 76 in Nottingham, suffering their heaviest T20 defeat by 125 runs.

Saikia described the slump as a temporary setback: "This is not something abnormal and can happen in international cricket. We consider it as a purely bad phase."

The team, coached by Gautam Gambhir, is without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and all-rounder Hardik Pandya due to workload and injury management. Teenage debutant Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 15, has scored 14, 13 and 15 in his three innings.

The fifth and final T20 will be played in Southampton on Saturday, followed by a three-match ODI series.

Source: www.aljazeera.com