IND vs AUS, 2nd T20I: Wet Ground, Slugfest and Still Questions Galore
Nagpur: Let us start with a nod of acknowledgement to the Indian spectators. They withstand a lot to watch their stars play and surely need more from the board and the organisers. The Nagpur match was threatened with being called off, while the fans at Hyderabad were at the receiving end of police batons as they went to get tickets for the third match. They are the most under-mentioned heroes of Indian cricket. The Nagpur organisers should be questioned about their lack of preparedness for the fallout of rain, resulting in an eight-over slugfest that could have gone either way. Not fair on the teams, and certainly not on the paying public.
As for the match, even in eight overs, we saw that the Indian top three won’t all get runs together. This time around, it was left to skipper Rohit Sharma to find the big target set by the visitors.
Also, in stark display the widening chasm between the leg-spin departments of the two sides. Yuzvendra Chahal is struggling, while Adam Zampa was right up there, snaring the Indian big guns up the order as the target became progressively more difficult for the hosts.
Just as well that Sharma found his form, while Dinesh Karthik came in and showed why he is in the XI.
As for the Australian inning, the thing of interest was how Jasprit Bumrah would fare. Coming back from a long break and not played in the first match, India’s pace spearhead looked sharp and keen. Quite a surprise as to what changed in a couple of days, he wasn’t fit in Mohali but was firing missiles in Nagpur.
Nevertheless, whatever little we all saw of Bumrah must have come as a relief for the skipper and the coach alike, since none of the other bowlers, who are playing in this squad, have looked half as effective.
Aaron Finch played a strike rate of over 200 but one searing Bumrah yorker did him in, while Axar Patel’s deceptive left-arm slow was once again effective.
Strange how Chahal is now becoming a bit of a question mark. A frontline bowler who didn’t send down even two overs in this truncated format doesn’t exude much confidence.
Nor did Harshal Patel’s end-over display. Matthew Wade was in the form that won Australia their first match, but he was made to look even more dangerous with some limited bowling skills by Patel towards the end of the inning.
Not much can be gleaned from such matches, but some of the issues still did crop up. Now, with four more games to go before the World Cup, it remains to be seen how o many of these we get sorted in time.