Former Indian captain Kris Srikkanth criticized the Indian batters for their poor performance against Australia’s Josh Hazlewood in the second T20I in Melbourne on October 31. Following a washout in the series opener due to bad weather, India’s batsmen failed to deliver in the second match.
Opener Shubman Gill survived an LBW scare off Hazlewood’s first ball but eventually fell to the pacer for just five runs off 10 balls. Hazlewood also dismissed Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma quickly, leaving India struggling at 32/4 in the fifth over.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Srikkanth expressed his disappointment with India’s batting collapse, stating, “Australia played this match with just one bowler, Josh Hazlewood. Yet he single-handedly wrecked the Indian batting. Gill should have been out the first ball itself and then he got hit on the helmet also. After that, he did not know what to do and eventually mistimed his shot to get out.”
Srikkanth further added, “The extra bounce undid the Indians. A bit of extra bounce had everyone struggling except Abhishek Sharma. It’s a shame he batted only 37 out of the 111 deliveries. They finished us with just one bowler in Hazlewood. But we had only one batter as everyone else was struggling, which is strange.”
Despite Abhishek Sharma’s valiant 68 off 37 balls, the rest of the Indian batting lineup crumbled, getting bowled out for a below-par 125 in the 19th over.
Addressing India’s struggles on bouncy wickets, Srikkanth highlighted the importance of playing in home conditions for the upcoming T20 World Cup. He mentioned, “It was clear the Indians were not comfortable on good bouncy wickets. India were outplayed by great quality bowling from Hazlewood. Luckily for India, the T20 World Cup is at home. If it was in Australia or South Africa, opponents would bounce India out. In the end, they made Marcus Stoinis a star bowler.”
Although the Indian bowlers fought back towards the end of Australia’s run-chase, picking up six wickets, the hosts comfortably chased down the target in just the 14th over to take a 1-0 series lead with three games remaining.
The revamped content seamlessly integrates the key points from the original article while offering a fresh perspective on India’s batting struggles and their upcoming challenges in the T20 World Cup.
