Disappointed Indian players shake hands with Australians after loss in Mohali T20I© AFP
India lost the first T20I against Australia despite posting a mammoth total of 208 runs on the board and captain Rohit Sharma didn’t mince any words when he was asked about the loss. Rohit put the blame squarely on India’s pathetic bowling performance in the match. Experienced seam bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded 52 runs in 4 overs, while Harshal Patel was taken for 49 runs in his full quota. Leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was hit for 42 in 3.2 overs and despite a heroic spell of 3/17 from Axar Patel, the Aussies beat India on canter eventually.
“I don’t think we bowled well. 200 is a good score to defend, and we didn’t take our chances in the field. It was a great effort from our batters, but bowlers were quite not there. There are things we need to look at,” a disappointed Rohit said at the presentation ceremony.
“We know this is a high-scoring ground. You can’t relax even if you get 200. We took wickets to an extent, but they played really well. They played some extra-ordinary shots. If I was in that changing room, I would expect to chase that total. You can back yourself to get 60 runs in the final 4 overs. We were not able to take their wicket,” he added.
This loss is quite similar to India twin losses to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup earlier this month.
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While India had not scored in excess of 200 in those matches, they had still managed to get a big enough score on the board and it was the poor death bowling by the pacers that cost India those two matches as well.
The spotlight is firmly on India’s bowling ahead of the remaining two matches of the series.
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