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Captain Mitchell Marsh pinpointed the lack of partnerships as the key reason behind Australia's 48-run defeat against "world-class" India in the fourth T20I at Carrara Oval on Thursday.
Australia, bereft of its mainstays, including Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Travis Head, attempted to gun down India's sub-par target of 168. After the 37-run opening stand between Marsh and Matthew Short concluded, Australia's innings unravelled after the rest of the team failed to conjure another significant partnership. Axar Patel pinned Short (25 off 19), who was the aggressor, in front of the stumps. Marsh and Josh Inglis forged a 30-run stand for the second wicket. Axar came back to haunt Australia and rattled Inglis's (12) stumps to open the floodgates. The hosts attempted to stitch a comeback but kept losing wickets at regular intervals as the required run rate climbed out of their reach. Shivam Dube's length and pace outfoxed power-hitter Tim David (14), while Josh Philippe (10) went for a couple of hits but perished. Glenn Maxwell, who returned to Australia's T20I fold after an injury, tried to cut the ball, but Varun Chakaravarthy's ball slipped past his bat and struck the timber. Marcus Stoinis went for a late surge, but Washington Sundar got the better of him as India raced to a 2-1 lead. "Walking off, I thought around 167 was par on that wicket. The wicket provided a few challenges with the bat. In those situations, you just need a couple of partnerships, and we weren't able to build that. So, fair play to India, they're a world-class team, especially in these conditions," Marsh said in the post-match presentation. Marsh addressed the scarcity of the first-choice players but remained positive about giving opportunities to new faces leading into next year's World Cup in India and Sri Lanka. According to Marsh, players facing high-pressure situations before the following year's showpiece event will benefit from it. "In an ideal world, you'd have your full-strength side every game, but some of the boys have a big series coming up. We also like giving guys opportunities leading into a World Cup. More opportunities, guys get in games like this with high pressure, I think it's great," Marsh concluded. (ANI)
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