Australia vs India 2018-19, First T20I: 3 Reasons why India lost the match

India landed in Australia as the favourites to win the three matches t20I series. With the weather forecast predicting that rain would affect the game, Virat Kohli won the toss and asked the home team to bat.

Australia had a quiet power play by scoring 38 for the loss of D Arcy Short in the fifth over. Then, Kuldeep Yadav removed Aaron Finch and Chris Lynn in successive overs after the latter scored three sixes in a single Khaleel Ahmed over.

Things were going in India’s way till until the partnership of Maxwell and Marcus Stonis took the game away from India as they added 78 runs in 37 balls.

Rain played arrived as a blessing in disguise for the Indians when Australia was at 153-3 in the 17th over.

Rain halted the match for an hour and play resumed and the affair was reduced to 17 overs per side. Australia managed to score five runs in as many balls to end at 158-4 in 17 overs.

The target for India after the DRS calculation was 174. India began their innings with 11 runs in the first over. Rohit Sharma lost his wicket in the last over of the power play.

Dhawan started off from where he left in Chennai and scored his ninth T20I fifty. Rahul and Kohli were picked up by Adam Zampa in his second and third overs for 13 and 4 respectively.

Dhawan fell in the 12th over for a well-played 42-ball 76. With 65 needed in the last five overs, it was upto for DK and Pant to steer India home.

They scored 25 runs in the 14th over. Rishab Pant got out in the penultimate over for 20 runs.

With 13 needed off the final over Marcus Stoinis gave away eight runs to help his team win the match by a margin of four runs.

This win ensured that Australia began the series on a positive way after disappointing losses to SA in the T20 and ODI series.

Here are some of the reasons why India lost the match:

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#3 Failure to control the flow of runs in the middle overs

Krunal and Khaleel gave away a combined 97 in 7 overs to spoil the Indian Bowling

Australia were 38-1 at the end of powerplay. With spinners like Kuldeep Yadav and Krunal Pandya in the ranks, India were expected to dominate the middle overs but it was not the case as Australia scored 120 runs in the 11 overs after that.

Though India picked up wickets it was not enough to stop the free flowing Australian Batsman. Kuldeep was the best among the lot with 2 for 24 in his four overs. But Krunal and Khaleel gave away a combined 97 in 7 overs to spoil the Indian Bowling. The trio of Bhuvi, Bumrah and Kuldeep gave away 60 in 10 overs.

It was the lack of support for these bowlers from the other end caused Australia to score a fighting target at the end of the first innings.

#2 Lack of support for Dhawan

Dhawan had no one to support him from the other end

If you need to chase a target of 174 runs in 17 overs you need the top order to form a solid partnership at the start of the innings.

Dhawan scored a brilliant knock of 74 runs, but he didn’t have proper support from the batsman at the other end.

Rohit was caught at mid-off for seven runs trying to pull a short ball and Rahul who was setting himself for a big score fell to Zampa for 13 and even Captain Kohli had an odd day during chasing as he got out for just four runs trying to play the big shot.

Then when the required run rate climbed above 12, Dhawan too got out trying to hit a six over the third man region and was caught by Behrendroff on the boundary line. Then, DK and Pant tried their part but couldn’t help the ream cross the finishing line.

#1 Maxwell – Stoinis Partnership

The partnership proved to be pivotal in the context of the result of the match

Marcus Stoinis entered the crease when the score was 75 for 3 in 10.1 overs.

Indians thought that the game was in their hands but the partnership of Maxwell and Stoinis took the game away from them.

The duo added 15 runs in the first 12 balls and then scored a massive 37 in the next 12, scoring 14 off Khaleel Ahmed’s third over where Stoinis scored two boundaries and 23 off Krunal Pandya’s third over.

Maxwell scored three successive sixes in that over. They then added another 14 off Pandya’s last over to spoil his bowling figures which read 0 for 55 in four overs.

It was the most expensive spell by an Indian bowler in Australia. They added 78 runs in 37 balls before Bumrah got Maxwell out in the final over with four balls to spare. The partnership proved to be pivotal in the context of the result of the match.