"We need to look at our bowling before the next game" - Rohit Sharma analyzes loss to Australia in 1st T20I

Rohit Sharma was disappointed with his bowlers as India succumbed to a defeat in the first T20I against Australia in Mohali on Tuesday, September 20.

The hosts failed to defend 208 runs, conceding 55 runs in just 20 deliveries as they lost by four wickets. Matthew Wade (45* off 21) ran riot with the bat at the PCA IS Bindra Stadium. The southpaw hammered the Indian bowlers, who once struggled to hit the right line and length in the final overs.

With the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 scheduled to start in less than a month's time, Rohit looked worried with his bowling troop. Speaking at the end of the game, the Indian captain highlighted:

"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 were ahead in the game until the 15th over before Wade launched the carnage. Harshal Patel, who returned after an injury lay-off, conceded 49 runs, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave away 52 runs.

This will certainly have the Indian think tank worried with the T20 World Cup approaching thick and fast.

Rohit pointed out that this game will help them understand where they lack as a team ahead of the global T20 competition. He continued:

"I don't think we bowled well. 200 is a good score to defend, and we didn't take our chances in the field. It was a great effort from our batters, but bowlers were not quite there. There are things we need to look at, but it was a great game for us to understand what went wrong."

India are now 1-0 down in the three-match series.

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"You can't relax even if you get 200" - Rohit Sharma

Despite losing Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli cheaply, India batted extremely well to post 208 runs on the board. KL Rahul (55) and Suryakumar Yadav (46) set the platform for Hardik Pandya (71* off 30) to flourish in the end.

In response, Cameron Green got Australia off to a flying start, scoring a quickfire half-century (61). The Men in Blue managed to pull things back before Wade arrived in the middle to take the game away single-handedly.

Rohit credited Australia for putting up a brilliant performance with the bat and chasing down the target with four balls to spare. He concluded:

"We know this is a high-scoring ground. You can't relax even if you get 200. We took wickets to an extent, but they played really well."

India will have a lot of work to do ahead of the second fixture on Friday, September 23, at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.