India’s recent One-Day International (ODI) series loss to Australia was not entirely surprising, given their inconsistent batting throughout the series. The Test series win was largely due to Australia’s early struggles, and once they found their footing, India faced a tough challenge. In the ODIs, three lackluster top-order batting performances, with only a few redeeming efforts, resulted in Australia taking the limited-overs honours. This was India’s first such series loss at home after 26 consecutive victories.
The Australian finger spinners – Nathan Lyon, Matthew Kuhnemann, and Todd Murphy – were successful against India’s highly-regarded batting in the Test series. In the ODI series, Mitchell Starc initially caused problems for India, and a sobering 10-wicket loss followed in Visakhapatnam. Adam Zampa and Ashton Agar impressed on the challenging Chennai pitch, but India’s decision to demote Suryakumar Yadav to No. 7 was questionable. Despite his two golden ducks in the first two ODIs, Yadav is not a batter who should be coming so low down the order. The rest of India’s batting was underwhelming, with many batters getting over the initial stages and scoring 30s and beyond, only to give it away when it mattered most.
India’s inability to handle top-class spin was brutally exposed again, and it is not a promising situation ahead of the ICC World Cup at home. With no other home series left to address the issues, India will have to hope that things fall into place.
