India vs Australia 2019: 3 things that went wrong for India in the 2nd T20I
India was humbled for the second game running as the visitors chased down a daunting total of 191 with relative ease.
After being put into bat, the hosts rode on KL Rahul’s belligerent innings to get off to a decent start. However, the Indians went through a trough after the opener’s dismissal. Yet, the home side’s big guns, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli turned in vintage displays to carry the score to 190.
In reply, the Aussies were rattled early with Siddarth Kaul castling Marcus Stoinis in the 3rd over. Aaron Finch followed suit an over later as his vigil was cut short by Vijay Shankar.
D’Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell then joined hands to stitch together a 73-run partnership before the former lobbed one to Rahul. The latter then had company in the form of Peter Handscomb and the duo took the visitors past the finish line.
The defeat at Bengaluru meant that the Indians were consigned to their second consecutive T20I series defeat.
Here is a look at three things that went wrong for India in the 2nd T20I:
#1 India’s spinners fail to make inroads
Over the last year and a half, India’s strength has been its ability to nip out promising partnerships in the middle overs. The likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal have distinguished themselves in that regard.
Yet, in the former’s absence, the latter looked lost at his IPL home and was largely ineffective.
The leg-spinner conceded a whopping 47 runs in four overs and was taken apart by Maxwell. None of Chahal’s tricks, be it bowling wide of off stump or firing the ball into the pads, worked.
Additionally, the reliable Krunal Pandya had a bad day at the office. The left-arm spinner ended up as the second most economical bowler for India but wasn’t as penetrating as usual.
The inability to dent the opposition meant that the Aussies were able to build partnerships in the middle overs and set the platform for a final onslaught.
However, India won’t be enduring too many sleepless nights due to their spinners’ lack of cutting edge for they’ve proven themselves over the past couple of years.
Yet, on the night, it was an aspect that went horribly wrong for the Indians.