It was a far from ideal performance for India at the start of their home season as they lost the opening game of the three-T20I series against Australia by four wickets in Mohali on Tuesday.
It was almost as if India had carried on from where they left off in their defeats to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup, making their 101-run hammering of Afghanistan seem an aberration, as the bowling unit once again failed to defend a target and leaked runs aplenty in the slog overs.
This was after India posted a total in excess of 200, thanks primarily to Hardik Pandya’s heroics in the middle order with vital contributions from KL Rahul (55) and Suryakumar Yadav (46). Pandya bounced back to form in style with a blistering 71 not out off 30 balls, helping the Men in Blue post a formidable 208/6.
Read: Hardik Pandya’s batting unparalleled assault goes in vain as bowlers stumble
But the bowling, especially the pace department, once again let the team down, with the hosts leaking 53 runs from overs 17 to 19 — 31 of those coming off two Bhuvneshwar overs, with Harshal Patel bowling the other one.
And it wasn’t just the pace bowling department that didn’t fire on the day — India’s fielding wasn’t up to the mark either as three catches were put down during Australia’s run chase.
Cameron Green, who opened for the first time in international cricket and laid the foundation for a successful chase with a lively 61, was the first to be handed a lifeline. And it was Axar Patel, one of the better fielders in the Indian team, who put down the chance at deep midwicket off Hardik Pandya’s bowling to allow Green, then batting on 42, to bring up his half-century.
Axar would then have a chance fluffed off his own bowling the very next over, this time India vice-captain Rahul spilling a chance at long off, with Steve Smith surviving on 19. The Aussie No 3 would go on to add another 16 to his score.
Read: Men in Blue’s listless bowling at death and other talking points from 1st T20I
The third dropped chance would then occur in the 18th over, in which the pair of Matthew Wade and Tim David plundered 22 runs in Harshal’s final over. The seamer, returning to the XI after an extended injury layoff, dropped a tough catch off his own bowling after Wade chipped the ball in his direction.
Wade would make the most of the chance handed to him by smashing three consecutive boundaries off Bhuvneshwar in the penultimate over to bring the equation down to two off the last six balls, finishing unbeaten on 45 off 21 balls.
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