India lost the fourth ODI against the Australians due to many reasons. While they did the hard work of completing the series, the idea of a whitewash is now out and Australia also snapped India’s 9-game winning streak.
Here are five reasons India lost the game:
- Bad toss to loss:
The toss was one which guaranteed a higher chance of losing if batting second. Though India are good chasers, the flat deck was acting up in the first innings, making it easier for Australians to go and play their shots.
While India managed to make a fight of it till the last ten overs, it was still hard to chase under the lights at Chinnaswamy.
- Middle-order not stepping up:
While the opening pair of Rohit and Rahane were fantastic, going at the right pace for the chase, they were let down by the likes of Kohli and the rest of the middle order. Pandya and Jadhav too, were going great with Pandya being the aggressor but once he got out, it got harder.
Pandey and Jadhav were not able to hit at the required rate and put pressure amongst themselves which then led to the loss of the game later on.
- Superb death bowling:
While the Australians had a good day with the bat, they made a difference with some fantastic death bowling. The likes of Richardson and Cummins, along with Coulter-Nile bowled brilliantly to restrict the batsmen.
The Indians were not able to hit the bowlers because of their disciplined bowling and this ended up adding more pressure in the end overs.
- Sending MSD late:
One of the biggest talking points is trying to figure out MS Dhoni’s correct position in the line-up. As he is a fantastic enabler of the lower order batsmen, he should have been sent up earlier. While the Pandya experiment did go decent, Dhoni would have been able to rotate the strike.
By the time he came to bat, it was already very hard to hit and Dhoni did not have the adequate time he likes to settle. This caused him to play rash shots which eventually led to his dismissal.
- Rohit Sharma’s run-out:
The difference that good fielding does was shown in Rohit Sharma’s dismissal. After Kohli tried to guide the ball to third man, Smith put in an almighty dive with the ball in his hand. Rohit, who had set off for the run was already at the striker’s end and had to run all the way back.
The fielder backing up calmly collected the ball and threw it to the bowler who whipped the bails off and Sharma’s innings came to an end. He was smashing sixes effortlessly and did not look in any danger of getting out until that needless incident.
