A blitzkrieg from Cameron Green, who opened for the first time in international cricket, paved the way for Australia to gun down the target of 208 with 4 wickets and 4 balls to spare, and take a 1-0 series lead in Mohali against India.
Chasing a steep total, Australia went all out berserk right from the first ball when Aaron Finch smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six. Green joined in with 4 consecutive boundaries off Umesh Yadav in the second over and the visitors were up and running in their chase.
Finch, after creaming three fours to Bhuvneshwar, was castled by Axar, who was by the far the best bowler on both sides, finishing with figures of 3/17 in 4 overs. Other Indian bowlers, though, didn’t find a space for hiding as Green and the Aussie batters mauled them to all parts of the ground.
Harshal and Bhuvneshwar bowled poorly in the death
Green was dismissed in the 11th over after he’d clattered 61 runs off 30 balls. Steve Smith scored 35 runs off 24 balls. Umesh and Axar brought India back in the middle-overs, and at 145/5 in 14.1 overs, Indian fans hoped for a comeback win.
All hopes were quashed away by Matthew Wade, who once again asserted his prowess as a finisher, tonking 45 runs off 21 balls. Wade and Tim David plundered 22 runs from the 18th over, off Harshal Patel, and 16 runs from the 19th over, off Bhuvneshwar, to seal the game. All the Indian bowlers, barring Axar went for 11 or more runs per over, continuing their dismal defensive show from the Asia Cup.
Earlier in the game, India had been put in the driver’s seat by their batters: KL Rahul rocked back to his form scoring 55 runs off 35 balls and Suryakumar Yadav supported with 46 off 25 before Hardik Pandya brought out his best T20I knock – 71* off 30 balls. Skipper Rohit Sharma lamented the dismal bowling performance: “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.”
Meanwhile, fans on Twitter trolled Team India mercilessly for their horror bowling show:
bhuvi in the 19th over pic.twitter.com/8nuXFDqCN7
— Arun Lol (@dhaikilokatweet) September 20, 2022
Umpires when Bhuvi bowls the 17th and 19th over pic.twitter.com/A4xb3JL4oS
— Titu (@TituTweets_) September 20, 2022
Me looking at Indian Cricket team loosing to Pak, Sri Lanka and now Australia as well😔😭😭#INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/JGHMR4Caqs
— Gaurav Mrigwani (@GMrigwani) September 20, 2022
India lost because there is no PAYTM series to win.
Sack Mastercard IMO.
— Sarah Waris (@swaris16) September 20, 2022
My appeal to all Rohit fans ,
Sabse pehle aapne gabharana nahin hay !
— Lakshman (@Rebel_notout) September 20, 2022
India’s death overs bowling problems highlighted again. I suspect Rohit Sharma was searching for bowlers too early. Bumrah alone cannot fill this hole.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 20, 2022
Rohit Sharma needs few captaincy lessons.
— Mission T20WC 🏏 (@cricdrugs) September 20, 2022
Top Performers of the Day 🥇🥈🥉 pic.twitter.com/XMXbDrffpi
— Dinda Academy (@academy_dinda) September 20, 2022
Bowling tactics with Bumrah in the team be like. pic.twitter.com/lmMDZX1FuD
— Heisenberg ☢ (@internetumpire) September 20, 2022
Indian pace trio runs khaate hue pic.twitter.com/V51auiJJQB
— Pakchikpak Raja Babu (@HaramiParindey) September 20, 2022
Australia not just laid bare the limitations of this Indian bowling attack, they’ve also shown you the mirror about your T20 batting. Yes India scored 208, but in the end it was well par #INDvsAUS #Mohali
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) September 20, 2022
