IND v AUS 2020, 1st ODI: 3 mistakes that cost India the game
In their first game of the bubble era, Virat Kohli's India fell to a disappointing 66-run loss to Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Australia's total of 374/6 was always going to be a mountain to climb, and the Men in Blue were effectively out of the game by the first powerplay since they had already lost three of their top four batsmen.
Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan fought hard in the run-chase, as did Mohammed Shami in the first innings. However, India were found wanting in a number of departments, and committed a bunch of silly errors that put the hosts firmly in the ascendancy.
Here are 3 mistakes that cost India the 1st ODI against Australia.
#3 India failed to utilise the short ball to good effect
After being put in to field by Aaron Finch, India would've wanted to make early inroads in the first powerplay. However, things could not have gone worse for them as Finch and opening partner David Warner put on an untroubled opening partnership of 156 that was broken in only the 18th over.
India's pace attack is anything but incapable, as Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Navdeep Saini are all bowlers with pace, variations and consistency. But with not much swing in the air and movement off the deck on offer, the pacers were sitting ducks against batsmen of the quality of Finch and Warner.
India very rarely resorted to the short ball, which is arguably a pacer's biggest weapon Down Under. It was true that the wicket wasn't as pacy as ones previously seen at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but Bumrah, Shami and Saini are potent bowlers who can hurry even the best of batsmen.
Australia proved that the short-ball ploy could've worked with their bowling effort. Josh Hazlewood dismissed Virat Kohli, Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer with well-directed short balls, and India should've done the same with the new ball.
#2 India were extremely sloppy in the field
With fielders like Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli and Hardik Pandya in their ranks, India are one of the best fielding sides in the world. But this aspect of their game sorely let them down against Australia in the 1st ODI.
Shikhar Dhawan dropped a sitter at long-on that would've dismissed Steve Smith for far less than he eventually scored. Yuzvendra Chahal shelled a tough chance at short fine-leg that hit his arm instead of his palm, although the drop didn't cost India many runs.
Hardik Pandya parried another difficult chance off Maxwell's bat over the boundary for six, while Shreyas Iyer decided to go for a diving catch in the same over and ended up conceding a boundary. Ravindra Jadeja missed a run-out in which he had all three stumps to aim at and an eternity to throw, while Mayank Agarwal was guilty of letting a simple gather go past him for four.
Due to these mishaps in the field, India ended up conceding a significantly above-par score.
#1 India went too hard against the new ball in the run-chase
Australia ended up with a massive 374-run total, and the biggest reason they managed such a score was not their intent in the powerplay but the fact that they had wickets in hand towards the end of the second powerplay.
Both Finch and Warner were fairly circumspect at the beginning and put away only the loose balls, while Smith took his time to get settled before going big. The result was that all three batsmen managed to get stuck in, handing hitters like Glenn Maxwell the perfect platform to launch.
India, on the other hand, missed a trick. After scoring as many as 20 runs in the first over and registering their fastest team fifty in ODI history (4.1 overs), they lost 4 wickets by the 13th over to throw away the advantage. Much of this was down to unnecessarily aggressive shot-making.
Kohli danced down the track and pulled a short ball straight to mid-wicket, while Agarwal was also bounced out on the pull. Rahul crunched a full-toss straight to cover, while Iyer dangled his bat at a bumper he really should've left alone.
India's innings worm was far ahead of Australia's for the entirety of the first half of their run-chase, but the wickets that they lost against the new ball threw them into a pit they couldn't get out of.