This is frustrating, India lost the ODI match once again. The second ODI of the Victoria Beer series in Brisbane was the repeat tale of Perth ODI. India scored 308 for 8 wickets in Brisbane ODI but lost the match due to erroneous team selection, lackluster bowling performance. Rohit Sharma once again scored a hundred that helped India to score massive 308 on board.
Here are five reasons why India lost the series
30 runs short of a par total
India won the toss, chose to bat first and Shikhar Dhawan once again failed to give India a good start, even though India recovered from early hiccup as Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have built a 125 runs partnership that accelerate India’s innings. Kohli’s departure once agin raised a question mark over India’s chances in the match. But, Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma gave India another 121 run important partnership. The match was predicted to be a run feast. So, India were marching towards big total even though the last eight overs halted India’s momentum of run scoring as MS Dhoni got catch out, leaving Ajinkya Rahne in the middle. Under pressure, Rahane and unsettled Manish Pandey messed up things and lost their wickets. James Faulkner in the last over conceded just four runs. India were short of the desired target by at least 30 runs.
Dropped catches
When Australia came to chase the target of 309 their openers Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh concentrated on the `building partnership. They were successful in their attempt. Marsh and Finch switched the momentum of the game after 18th over. After scoring 81 runs in 18 overs, they launched big shots along with rotating the strike at regular interval. Ishant Sharma dropped the catch of Marsh early in the innings that proved expensive for India. Then again in slips, Rahane dropped the catch of Aaron Finch while Barinder Sran had a difficult chance. These catches pushed away India’s first wicket scalp of the match.
Lacklustre Bowling
Australia bowling attack was tormented by Rohit Sharma till 42 overs; after his departure India miserably failed and Australia bounced back in the match. When a late surge was needed to add important runs to win the match, India managed only 53 runs in last 48 balls. MS Dhoni needed to stay the crease and finish the innings but instead left under pressure Ajinkya Rahane and Manish Pandey in the middle.
But, Indian bowlers from the beginning looked toothless. Initially, it was not understood because of Australia’s strategy to play slow and don’t lose any wickets. But, as the duo settled down they started hammering Indian bowlers. Umesh Yadav conceded 74 runs in 10 overs and went wicketless. Dhoni’s plan to continue with two spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin once again proved was a worthless decision. To add more misery to the bowlers, fielders missed a couple of catches.
Geroge Bailey’s form
This middle order batsman has been in terrific form as he scored 76 and anchored Australia to victory. Bailey came at the crease after the fall of the second wicket, Shaun Marsh. Australia have already scored 166 in 30 overs. Bailey relied on old school tactics of singles and out ran Indian fielders and punish bad balls to the boundary. He was unbeaten in the innings. In the last match, he scored 112 and built a 242 runs partnership with Steve Smith. In this second, ODI Smith departed after scoring 46. So, the responsibility was on Bailey, And he signed off his duty after winning the match quite comfortably in 49th over. It was another massive victory for Australia by seven wickets.
MS Dhoni’s erroneous decision
MS Dhoni is partly responsible for this defeat. He needed to take a cue from the last match at Perth. When spinners proved ineffective in the fast and bouncy WACA pitch, he retained Jadeja and Ashwin for Gabba ODI, which is faster and famous for an, even more, bounce. It was observed Dhoni often said in the press conference that India doesn’t have a seaming allrounder in the squad when Rishi Dhawan has been selected as an allrounder. Dhoni’s decision to play Ashwin and Jadeja backfired. So, it is expected that Dhoni in the next ODI must give Dhawan a chance dropping a spinner.