India lost the second T20I of the five-match series to Australia by 4 wickets in Melbourne on Friday. The game was effectively decided in the first innings when the Australian bowlers bundled out India for a paltry 126 after host captain Mitchell Marsh won the toss and opted to bowl first.
In the chase, Travis Head and Marsh stitched together a 51-run opening stand, dashing India’s hopes of a comeback. With the batters failing to post even a fighting total, there wasn’t much left for the Indian bowlers to defend.
Abhishek Sharma and Harshit Rana were the only Indian players to score in double digits. The southpaw smashed 68 off 37 balls, including eight fours and two sixes, while Rana contributed 35 off 33. The duo forged a 56-run partnership off 47 balls for the sixth wicket, helping India avoid complete embarrassment after being reduced to 49 for 5 in 7.3 overs.
While Abhishek received lots of praise for his fighting knock, former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan pointed out that he should have faced more deliveries during his partnership with Harshit. The opener played just 14 of the 47 balls in the stand.
“The powerplay had gone perfectly for him; he was playing his shots freely even as wickets kept falling at the other end. But during that partnership, most of the strike went to Harshit Rana. Out of those 47 balls, Abhishek faced only 14. That’s a crucial phase, roughly half the innings, and that’s where Abhishek needed to take a bit more responsibility,” said Irfan Pathan on his YouTube channel.
“No doubt, Abhishek Sharma is currently India’s No. 1 T20 batter, but in this situation, he needed a little more game awareness. Even if Harshit Rana was getting more strike, could Abhishek have rotated the strike better to face more deliveries himself? If I were part of that dressing room, I would’ve told Abhishek: Brother, you should’ve taken more responsibility there. 33 balls faced by Harshit Rana and only 14 by you, that’s a big gap. So this is one area where Abhishek Sharma needs to focus more going forward,” he added.