Melbourne. The second T20 match between India and Australia was played on Friday. Australia won the toss and put India in to bat first. That’s where the trouble began.
The entire team collapsed after scoring just 125 runs. Australia chased down this target with 40 balls to spare, losing 4 wickets and taking a 1-0 lead in the series.
Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra criticized the team’s batting in a discussion on Star Sports.
“This shot won’t work here” – Chopra
Chopra was asked whether India should have chosen a path between caution and attack.
He replied, “Absolutely, because you are playing in Melbourne. You have to adjust yourself to the country you go to. So you will have to play like that. Here, it seemed like they went too hard too soon.”
Then he talked about Tilak Varma. Tilak tried to flick the second ball, but the ball bounced in the air, and wicketkeeper Josh Inglis took the catch.
Chopra said, “Whoever was coming was trying to hit a four or a six, whether it was Shubman Gill or Sanju Samson. Suryakumar Yadav, of course, fell prey to a good ball, but he could have gotten out to the previous ball if the catch hadn’t been dropped. Tilak Varma hadn’t opened his account. This shot won’t work.”
Wrong plan from the start
Chopra said the planning was flawed. “It was a tactical mistake from the start.”
Josh Hazlewood took three wickets. India were reduced to 32/4 in 4.5 overs. Axar Patel was run out.
Chopra said, “They would have had a little realization, the way the four wickets fell, and then Axar Patel’s unfortunate run-out. From there, you knew you had to reconstruct, try somehow to come back in the match. In my opinion, it was a tactical mistake from the start.”
“You didn’t respect the conditions. If you don’t respect the conditions and the situation, you lose badly at times. This is one of those innings where we didn’t bat 20 overs. We could score only 125 runs.”
Abhishek Sharma scored the highest score of 68 runs (37 balls). Harshit Rana remained at second position after scoring 35 runs (33 balls). No one else reached double figures.
