‘Problems everywhere’ – Twitter seething in anger as India put up a lacklustre performance against Australia in the first T20I

The first match between India and Australia kicked off at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali. This was the first match of the three-match T20I series. Australia won the toss and chose to bowl. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were dismissed by Hazelwood and Nathan Ellis early in the powerplay. There was a resurrection act by KL Rahul and Suryakumar Yadav from 35-2 as they took the score to 103 for 3. KL Rahul scored 55 from 31, while Yadav made 46 from 25 balls.

Hardik Pandya then played a blistering knock of 71 from 30 balls with 7 fours and 5 sixes. This catapulted India to 208-6 at the end of the first innings.

In the second innings, the Indian bowling was pear-shaped and they bowled too many balls on the pads. Australia was offered a superb start from Aaron Finch and Cameron Green who ripped the Indian bowling attack. Cameron Green used his long levers and smashed the bowling to all parts with 8 fours and 4 sixes.

Steve Smith provided a short blitz with 35 from 24 balls with 3 fours and a six. Just when Umesh Yadav and Axar Patel brought India back into the game with 3 quick wickets, Tim David and Mathew Wade dallied together to get Australia out of jail and took the score from 145 -5 to the match-winning total of 211-6. Tim David played a good support role with 18 from 14 which had 1 six and a boundary.

Mathew Wade was the star of the show as he played a cool and calm inning under pressure and took Australia home from a tense situation. It was a mirror image of what he did against Pakistan in the 2021 20-20 World Cup. He just brought his experience to the fore and slowly put the pressure back on the bowlers and then took the game by the scruff of the neck.

He just showed how the Aussies never buckle down under pressure and scored a superb 45 from 21 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. India were, once again, under the pump with the ball as they bowled badly and wilted under pressure. The dropped catches came back to haunt India as they had a horrible day on the field dropping far too many catches.

Twitter was abuzz as usual, let us take a look at the reactions here –