"Bhuvneshwar Kumar is a 19th over specialist for opposition team" - Fans slam veteran India pacer after 1st T20I vs Australia

Team India had to bear the brunt of some poor death bowling as they failed to defend 208 runs in the first T20I against Australia in Mohali on Tuesday, September 20.

The Men in Blue were ahead in the game until the 15th over before Matthew Wade walked out in the middle. The southpaw tore apart India's bowling in the final four overs as the hosts failed to defend 55 runs off 24 deliveries.

While Harshal Patel looked to be completely out of rhythm upon his return from injury, Bhuvneshwar Kumar struggled to contain runs in the 17th and 19th over, giving away 15 and 16 runs, respectively, to bring the equation down to two runs needed off the final six deliveries.

Bhuvneshwar's death-over woes will keep the Indian think tank on its toes with only three weeks to go before the ICC T20 World Cup 2022. The veteran pacer from Uttar Pradesh also had a poor run at the death in the recently concluded Asia Cup 2022, conceding 19 and 14 runs against Pakistan and Sri Lanka, respectively.

Fans were certainly unhappy with Rohit Sharma and Co. persisting with Bhuvneshwar at the death despite his poor returns of late. They took note of it and slammed the management for not being able to finalize the combinations ahead of the global T20 event.

Here are some of the reactions:

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"We need to look at your bowling before the next game" - Rohit Sharma after India's loss in 1st T20I

Indian captain Rohit was disappointed after his side failed to defend 208 runs on Tuesday. Matthew Wade (45* off 21) played a blinder to take the game away from the hosts with four balls to spare.

Speaking at the end of the game, Rohit stated:

"You can back yourself to defend 60 runs in the final four overs. We were not able to take that extra wicket. That was the turning point, if we would have taken another wicket, things would have been different."

He added:

"You can't score 200 everyday, you need to bat well. Hardik batted really well to get us there. We need to look at our bowling before the next game."

The Men in Blue will hope to bounce back in the second game against Australia on Friday, September 23, in Nagpur.