India look to address batting woes

Levelling T20 series with Australia will boost hosts’ momentum ahead of one-dayers

BENGALURU: Prior to the twomatch T20 International series against Australia, India captain Virat Kohli had warned his men against picking ‘bad habits’ from slam bang cricket — something they are at risk of doing during the upcoming IPL.

But the spectacular collapse from 80 for two halfway through their Visakhapatnam T20 innings to 127 for seven at the end would have left Kohli and India’s think-tank with a lot of worries, given that this bilateral affair is India’s last international series before the World Cup.

Australia eventually prevailed, picking 14 off Umesh Yadav’s last over. That the game went to the last ball, despite the visitors needing 38 off 40 at one point, could be attributed to Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliance.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

A loss on Wednesday, thus, would not only hand India a rare successive T20 series loss — they are coming off a 1-2 defeat in New Zealand — but also leave them pondering about the cracks that have opened up at a time when they are looking to build momentum.

Not long ago, series wins in Australia had garnered all the attention. In what is now a reverse fixture, these two matches have significance — trying out combinations and filling gaps— before the two teams play the five-match ODI series.

On Sunday, the middle and lower order failed to build on the platform laid by Kohli and Rahul, who scored a face-saving half century.

From Rishabh Pant’s adventurous dismissal to Krunal Pandya letting Nathan Coulter-nile get under his skin, Indian batsmen showed no intelligence.

MS Dhoni came under fire for his slow innings once again on the two-paced pitch at the ACAVDCA Stadium.

The Australian fast bowlers pulled back the length and did not allow the veteran more than one six.

But what has been India’s concern for long, the middle-order, caved in once again as Rishabh Pant (3), Dinesh Karthik (1) and Krunal Pandya (1) fell in quick succession, leaving Dhoni to do the bulk of scoring.

AUSSIE TAIL

Australia were rescued by their tail — Pat Cummins hit a splendid four through cover off Umesh Yadav in the final over after Jhye Richardson had got a pressure-releasing four to begin with.

Australian tail’s run-making ability at the end somehow embarrassed the much-vaunted hosts who lack runs from their tail-enders with Bumrah’s career best score of seven being the highest of those that formed the bottom four on Sunday.

For Australia, who have been setting a lower benchmark for themselves of late, a series win would help boost morale to a great extent.

Having lost the Test and ODI series at home to India, this is an excellent opportunity to level things up.

While D’arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell both carried their Big Bash form into the subcontinent, the only worrying thing for the visitors was losing wickets in clusters, which dragged the first T20 longer than it ideally should have. They are likely to go in with an unchanged XI while the hosts can be expected to tinker with their combination.

Both the teams had a full practice session on Tuesday. The pitch was watered well and had quite a fair amount of grass until late afternoon.