In what turned out to be a disasterous tour for Australia to far, Opener Aaron Finch is the only batsman, who looked in good touch. He made scores of 124, 92 and 32 in the ODI series and 42 in the 1st Twenty match. But, he too admitted that he had a torrid time facing India’s left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and ‘had a little bit of brain fade’ while facing him in Ranchi.
During the first t20 yesterday, he was going well and looked in spectacular form before he got-out to Kuldeep’s left-arm spin, which triggered Australia’s downfall in their nine-wicket defeat to India in the first T20.
“I found that playing the sweep was going to be the safer option. One to get off strike and to get a boundary if I could hip the gap. That ball I got out on was a little bit of a brain fade to be fair,” he said.
“I went to sweep then just tried to chip him into the onside for one and missed it. That happens in the game, in particular T20.”
After Finch’s dismissal, the Australia middle-order struggled to keep going and eventually made at 118 for 8 when rain curtailed their innings and gave India an easy D/L target of 48 in six overs, which team India comfortably achieved with nine wickets in hand.
“I thought on that wicket to Kuldeep, sweeping was a safer option than trying to take him over the top where some balls were spinning, it was hard to judge the bounce on a track. That was quite difficult.”
