The Indian cricket team has not had the best start to its journey as the new World Champions in T20Is. On Saturday, they suffered a humiliating thirteen-run defeat by Zimbabwe, a team that had failed to qualify for the T20 World Cup.
A new-look Indian team, which was led by the young sensation Shubman Gill, succumbed in their first outing in the post-Rohit-Kohli era. Despite some great performances by the bowlers, the batters failed to deliver in crunch time.
Batting lets team India down
India won the toss and chose to bowl first. The bowlers justified their captain’s decision by curtailing Zimbabwe’s inning for a score of 115 runs in 20 overs. Ravi Bishnoi was the pick of bowlers for the Indian team, as he clinched four wickets in his four overs and gave away just 13 runs by bowling two maidens.
FOUR-WICKET HAUL FOR RAVI BISHNOI…!!!! 🇮🇳
– What a spell, Bishnoi is back with a bang in T20I, 4 for 13 from 4 overs against Zimbabwe in the first T20I. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QXwobApyMk
In return, the Indian team had the worst start possible. They lost four wickets within the first five overs. Captain Gill showed some resilience as wickets fell on the other end. However, he couldn’t contain himself for long and was dismissed in the 11th over.
This left Washington Sundar with the burden of taking the team over the line. Had there been some support from the other end, he would have also gotten the job done. This sudden collapse of the middle order saw India go from a comfortable run-a-ball situation to 16 runs required off the last over.
With Sundar batting alongside Khaleel Ahmed, the Indians knew their chances of winning were slim. And that happened, as the world champions failed to bat out the 20 overs.
Shubman Gill’s verdict on loss
Shubman Gill said “Would have been best for us if I stayed there till the end – very disappointed with the way I got out”. pic.twitter.com/nFu0FT14OC
“We bowled pretty well; we let ourselves down in the field. We were not up to standard and everyone looked a bit rusty. We spoke about taking time and enjoying our batting but it didn’t pan out that way. Halfway through we had lost 5 wickets, would’ve been best for us if I stayed there till the end, very disappointed with the way I got out and the rest of the match panned out. There was a bit of hope for us but when you’re chasing 115 and your no.10 batter is out there, you know something is wrong,” Gill said after the loss.
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