Former cricketer Irfan Pathan has said that the second T20I between India and Australia was not a match but a mismatch, slamming the visitors after they were bowled out for a paltry 125 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, with the top order looking very frail against a quality Australian pace attack.
Star Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood dismantled a famed Indian top-order with a probing spell to kill the contest as Australia cantered to a four-wicket win against India.
In front of an 82,438-strong crowd, India suffered one of its most embarrassing losses with as many as nine batters not being able to reach double digits in a total of 125 in less than 19 overs.
“The match between Australia and India in the 2nd T20 was not a match but a mismatch. This
is a fact. It wasn’t visible anywhere that the Indian team was the number one side of the T20,” Irfan said while speaking on his YouTube channel.
“Whether they are the World Cup winner or the Asia Cup winner, especially in batting, the struggle that we saw… especially on the bouncy pitch, which had a spongy bounce and the ball was moving around,” Irfan said.
Only Abhishek Sharma, in the form of his life, stood tall amidst ruins with a combative 37-ball-68. With Harshit Rana (35 off 33 balls), he added 56 to take the total past the 100-run mark after pacer Hazlewood (3/13) left them reeling at 49/5.
Hazlewood bowled an incredible 15 dot deliveries in his four-over spell to break the backbone of Indian batting and kill the contest within 20 minutes of start.
In response, captain Mitchell Marsh powered to a quickfire 46 off 26 deliveries as Australia chased down the target in just 14 overs, losing six wickets. Most of their dismissals came from ambitious shot attempts.
“Hazlewood’s game was also very attractive. In front of Hazlewood, it felt like India were completely defeated. Abhishek Sharma definitely showed once again that everyone else was batting on one wicket; it looked like he was batting on the other pitch,” Irfan said.
