India vs Australia 2020: 3 reasons why India lost the 1st ODI

India suffered a humiliating defeat against Australia by 10 wickets in the 1st ODI of the 3-match series at Mumbai. Although the match was expected to be a high scoring affair, it turned out to be a one-sided match that saw Australia take a 1-0 lead in the series.

Australian skipper Aaron Finch opted to bowl first after winning the toss. Despite playing on a batting-friendly wicket with relatively short boundaries, India lost all their wickets and scored only 255 runs in 49.1 overs which was at least 40-50 runs short of a competitive total.

Chasing 256, Australia came out all guns blazing courtesy the aggressive approach of David Warner (128* off 112 balls) and Aaron Finch (110* off 114 balls) and won the game without losing a wicket in just 37.4 overs.

Also see – BPL Most Runs

Despite playing a full-strength playing XI, India were outplayed by their opponents throughout the match. We take a look at the three factors that could have cost India the match:

1.An over-cautious approach by the Indian top order

India's cautious start slowed down the scoring rate.

Batting first, India started their innings steadily. Although they lost Rohit Sharma (10 runs off 15 balls) cheaply, the partnership of Shikhar Dhawan (74 runs off 91 balls) and KL Rahul (47 runs off 61 balls) took the innings forward and stitched a 121-run partnership for the 2nd wicket and the scoreboard read 134-2 in 27.1 overs when Rahul departed.

The score at that time may look decent on paper, but not on a wicket like the one at Wankhede which is well known for producing run-fests. While attempting to save wickets in the first half of the innings, India were a bit slow in scoring runs. A little more aggression in their batting could have helped India score a total at-par, but giving too much respect to the opponent's bowlers slowed down India's scoring rate and gave Australia an upper hand in the match.

2. India suffered an unexpected batting collapse

Virat Kohli had a rare failure with the bat in the match.

India were 126-1 at the end of 26 overs and needed to accelerate the scoring rate to post a competitive total. And since they had 9 wickets in hand, the task did not look difficult on a Wankhede pitch.

However, things soon turned ugly for India as they lost four wickets in a span of just 5.5 overs and the scoreboard read 164-5 in 32.5 overs. The decision of Virat Kohli to send himself at no. 4 too did not work as he got bamboozled by Adam Zampa when he was on 16 runs.

Losing too many wickets in quick succession took the match away from India and made their comeback a tough task. Although Rishabh Pant (28 runs off 33 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 runs off 32 balls) showed some resistance, that was never going to be enough to bring India back into the game. A couple of handy innings at that stage could have rescued India from that spot of bother, but an unexpected batting collapse did not let it happen.

3. India missed the service of 5th specialist bowler

India felt the need for another bowling option in the match.

India went into the match with four frontline bowlers and Ravindra Jadeja as the bowling all-rounder. And after posting a below-par total, the Indian bowlers needed to step up with some brilliant performances to win the match.

However, the Indian bowlers had a forgettable outing against the Australian openers as they struggled to find the right line and length to trouble the Warner-Finch pair. And since there was no sixth bowling option available for skipper Kohli to move to, he had to continue with an off-colour Indian bowling unit.

India dearly missed the service of their fifth specialist bowler in the match. Another proper bowling option could have given Kohli the luxury to try something different. But a compact bowling department limited India's chances in the match and made sure they lament the decision of not including another specialist bowler on a batsmen-friendly wicket.