The first T20I of the three-match series was played on Tuesday in Mohali, where Team India suffered a crushing loss to Australia. Team India was unable to hold on to a goal of 209 despite Hardik Pandya‘s impressive performance with the bat, who hammered 71* off 30 balls. Australia was victorious by four wickets thanks to the heroics of Cameron Green (61), who performed admirably, and Matthew Wade (45*). In their eight overs together, the fast bowling pair of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Harshal Patel allowed 101 runs to be scored.

Since he let up a total of 16 runs in the 19th over on Tuesday, Bhuvneshwar’s bowling in the last innings has been a source of concern for the past few games. However, Matthew Hayden, a former cricketer for Australia, backed Bhuvneshwar and referred to him as a “good finisher.”

“I disagree with that, I think he can and has been a very good finisher. I think that’s his role, I mean, obviously, his role is to take wickets up front but if your skipper wants an over or two from you at the end, then he can do that,”

Hayden told Star Sports.

In the recent few games, Bhuvneshwar has shown to be quite expensive in the final overs. The pacer lost to Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the recently concluded Asia Cup, allowing 19 and 14 runs in the 19th over, respectively.

With regard to the game, it was Hardik’s second T20I fifty, and the innings was extremely important because India scored 208/6. The groundwork for India had been set earlier by KL Rahul 55 off 35 balls and Suryakumar Yadav 46 off 25 balls.

Australia managed to reach the target with four deliveries remaining, but it was not enough.

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The opponents took a 1-0 series lead because to Matthew Wade’s unbeaten 45 off 21 at No. 7 and Cameron Green’s 61 off 30 at the top of the order which was strong. Axar Patel excelled with the bat, taking three wickets for just 17 runs off of his four overs, but the Australian hitters completely destroyed the rest of the Indian bowlers.