Before the beginning of the third and final T20I against India at Sydney, Australian captain Aaron Finch pointed out one of their major weak points for their recent home limited-overs defeats against India.
India are currently touring in Australia for the full-fledge international series (3-match ODI series, 3-match T20I series and 4-match Test series). After securing the ODI series by winning the first two games, Aaron Finch-led Aussie limited-overs sides failed to maintain that momentum and suffered three consecutive limited-overs defeats (1 ODI and 2 T20Is) against the visiting side Indian team, which also cost them the T20I series.
No balls are something that’s killed us over the last few games: Aaron Finch
Before the third T20I of the three-match T20I series, Australia already suffered the T20I series defeat as the visitors won both the first two matches of that series. During the toss of the third T20I at Sydney on Tuesday (8th December), where Indian captain Virat Kohli chose to bowl first, Finch pointed their no-ball issue was one of the biggest reasons of their recent limited-overs defeats against India.
Finch said at the toss, “No balls are something that’s killed us over the last few games and we want to control that going forward. Somewhere around 190 is what we are after and you got to be careful as this is a tough ground to defend. We gonna give it all tonight.”
While the Aussie bowlers conceded 2 no-balls during each of the first two ODIs against India, they gifted a total of 3 no-balls during the third and final ODI of that series, where India finally managed to claim a victory. Meanwhile, during both the first two matches of the T20I series, Australian bowlers conceded a total of one no-ball in each game, and the visitors ultimately won both those matches.
However, the hosts Australia finally returned to their winning fashion as they won the final T20I of the series by 12 runs. In that game, the Australian bowlers didn’t concede a single no-ball.