T20I: India failed to successfully defend their total of 208 in the opening T20I encounter against Australia on Tuesday in Mohali, giving them a poor start to the series. Along with some mediocre bowling, India also struggled in the field, as Axar Patel, KL Rahul, and Harshal Patel all took risks that ended up costing them. In his return to the commentary booth, former India head coach Ravi Shastri criticised the country’s on-field performance, claiming that Ravindra Jadeja’s injury prevented them from playing with “brilliance.”
“If you look at all the top Indian teams over the years, there is youth and experience. I find the youth missing here and that’s why the (poor) fielding,” Shastri said on air during Australia’s chase while they were marching away to victory.
“If you look at the last five-six years, if you look at the fielding sides, I think this side is no match to any of those sides when it comes to fielding. And that can hit badly in big tournaments,” Shastri observed.
“It means that as a batting side you have to get that 15-20 runs game after game,” he explained.
“If you look around the field, you tell me where is brilliance? There is no Jadeja. Where is brilliance? Where is that X-factor?” he said.
On the strength of half-centuries from Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul, as well as a brilliant knock from Suryakumar Yadav, India scored 208/6.
After that, Australia chased down the target in 19.2 overs, with Cameron Green slamming 61 off 30 deliveries and Matthew Wad scoring an unbeaten 45 off 21 despite Axar Patel’s stellar stats of 3/17 from his four overs.
