India vs Australia 2nd T20I highlights: Rain washes out 2nd T20I after Australia reached 132/7 in 19 overs

India vs Australia 2nd T20: As unbelievable as it may sound but India did arrive in Australia as the favourites and the unexpected loss at Brisbane, notwithstanding how close it was, has thrown their dreams of an eighth straight T20 series win into darkness

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Not often does an Indian captain get bombarded with questions after just one T20 defeat to Australia. Then again, neither does an Australian team or their media celebrate a T20 win in a grand manner. Nothing was normal when the series was about to start and nothing is normal after the first match.

India lost the first T20I at Brisbane by a narrow margin of 4 runs and that too after the implementation of new DRS rules. A shot here and there or rain not causing a 45-minute stoppage may well have given a different result. Then what’s the fuss? Why such an outcry about India’s goofed up batting line-up, their faulty team selection after just one match which could have gone either way? The answer lies within India’s opponent. That was only the sixth time – three of those against Zimbabwe and UAE - Australia tasted victory in their last 23 limited overs matches.

As unbelievable as it may sound but India did arrive in Australia as the favourites and the unexpected loss at Brisbane, notwithstanding how close it was, has thrown their dreams of an eighth straight T20 series win into darkness.

Not that Australia did not play well for their victory. That Maxwell and Stoinis partnership in the middle, especially the way Maxwell devoured young Krunal Pandya, hitting him for four sixes in the seven balls that he faced was special. Or the way young Adam Zampa not only made scoring difficult but also took the prized wicket of Virat Kohli in the middle and who can forget the last over bowled by Stoinis where he defended 13. They were all stellar performances and they deserved to be on the winning side. But one would lie if he doesn’t conceive that India too made a few glaring errors, minus those even the stellar Aussie performances might not have been enough.

For starters, the playing XI. Yes, Krunal Pandya had a great debut series against the Windies but was it enough to keep one of the best T20 bowlers of the current year – Yuzvendra Chahal – away from the starting XI? Perhaps not and India would want to rectify that in the 2^nd T20I at Melbourne. Maybe not at the expense of Pandya, who was clobbered for 55 in his 4 overs but perhaps in place of an extra batsman, India somehow have got to find a place for Chahal, especially after seeing the purchase Kuldeep (2/24) got at Brisbane.

The batting line-up was another problem at Brisbane. No matter how greater talent KL Rahul is, Virat Kohli just can’t bat below No. 3 in a T20 game. Keeping Kohli’s brilliance aside, Rahul’s recent numbers too support the claim. Since scoring 101 not out in the first T20I against England at Manchester, Rahul hasn't been able to cross the 30-run mark in next six matches. This could be an ideal opportunity to include Chahal. Karthik and Pant have shown, they can hold the innings together and tee off when in need. With a top order comprising of Rohit, Dhawan and Kohli, India doesn’t need an extra cushion in batting. In fact, they could well use it in their bowling department.

The fact that Melbourne too could be a curtailed match because of rain, should give India another reason to rethink their playing combination.

India Probable Playing XI: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Virat Kohli (capt.), 4 KL Rahul/Yuzvendra Chahal, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Dinesh Karthik, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Khaleel Ahmed

Australia  Probable Playing XI: 1 Aaron Finch (capt.), 2 D'Arcy Short, 3 Chris Lynn, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Marcus Stoinis, 6 Ben McDermott, 7 Alex Carey (wk), 8 Andrew Tye, 9 Adam Zampa, 10 Jason Behrendorff, 11 Billy Stanlake