IND vs AUS, 1st T20I: The Indian outfit clashed against Australia in the series opener of the three-match T20I series. The match that was played in Mohali was the perfect opportunity for both sides to check their team combination and plans ahead of the World Cup. The Australian team that was playing without their big guns such as Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, and Mitchell Starc emerged victorious as they chased down a mammoth total of 208 with 4 wickets in hand.
The Rohit Sharma-led team India started proceedings very strongly as they were invited to bat first by Australian skipper Aaron Finch. India's new template for T20Is was pretty much evident in the way they batted. Courtesy of KL Rahul's sublime 55, Suryakumar Yadav's 46, and Hardik Pandya's late assault of 71*, India raced away to 208/6 at the end of 20 overs, but the worst was yet to follow. Australia's new opener Cameron Green toiled with the Indian bowlers for fun. Team India was extremely sloppy on the field as they dropped three important catches in the crucial junctures of the game. The pace attack looked timid and dismal in the absence of Indian spearhead Jasprit Bumrah. Rohit Sharma has now addressed this issue and has been very honest about what went wrong with the team.
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Rohit Sharma stated:
I don't think we bowled well. 200 is a good score to defend, and we didn't take our chances on the field. It was a great effort from our batters, but the bowlers were quite not there. You can't score 200 every day, you need to bat well. Hardik batted really well to get us there. We need to look at our bowling before the next game. There are things we need to look at, but it was a great game for us to understand what went wrong.
With the World Cup in sight, problems are in abundance for team India. The Indian outfit already is in a spot of bother with Rohit and Virat's form and now it has been three matches in a row, where the Indian bowlers haven't been able to defend what was being asked of them. Come the second T20I, team India might go with a few changes to give them the best possible chance to stay alive in the series.
(Inputs from PTI)
