A replica of Perth! Reasons why Team India lost 2nd ODI at Brisbane

Brisbane, Jan 15: Things once again started well for Men In Blue at Brisbane's Gabba, when Dhoni and Co came out to bat after winning the toss but the final outcome was the same for Indian cricket fans as Team India suffered a humiliating defeat by 7 wickets in second ODI. (Another Rohit Sharma ton in vain as Oz take 2-0 lead)

A lot of things were in common from the previous match: Opener Shikhar Dhawan again perished pretty early; his opening partner Rohit Sharma hammered yet another magnificent century; Virat Kohli scored yet another brilliant half century and stiched crucial a partnership of 100+ runs for the first wicket; Team India set a target of 300-plus runs, and Australia once again chased the target quite comfortably, as a result Rohit's ton went in vain.

Rohit, who was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match, stood out for a second consecutive game with a 127-ball 124, which was the cornerstone of India's 308/9, a score that could easily have been more if not for a late collapse.

Having set a competitive target of 309 runs, Indian bowlers yet again proved ineffective and failed to build any pressure over Australian batsmen, thereby losing the match by 7 wickets.

Here are the main reasons for today's loss:

Poor bowling, a concern for Team India:

Skipper Dhoni dropped Bhuvaneshwar Kumar to make way for speedster Ishant Sharma, but the pacer's induction in the side didn't favoured the guests, for no Australian batsman faced any difficulty playing him. The lanky Delhi pacer failed gave runs at an economy of 6 and bagged just one wicket. His quota of 10 overs even conceded 8 extra runs in wides.

It was not only Ishant who disappointed with his bowling effort, just like the previous game, spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja hardly posed any trouble. The Australian batters looked comfortable playing Indian bowlers and always dominated them.

Even in the death overs, the Indian bowling looked haywired and even lacked the edge. Even the Australian bowlers went for runs but they came back strongly in the death overs, while their Indian counterparts failed to offer any challenge.

Catches win matches: Indians dropped 5 catches

If the Australians bagged the crucial wicket of dangerous looking Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma with their brilliant fielding efforts, the Indians on the other hand failed to capitalize over the chances came across their way. Indian fielders dropped "five" catches in today's game and helped the Australians build crucial partnership.

Though some dropped catches were not the easiest but that doesn't mean Indians haven't performed well "on field". Unless this perenial problem is sorted, matches would be slipping off Team India's grip in the same way.

Superb batting display by the hosts:

The Australian batters looked in control from the very first over they came out to bat. Initially, the openers Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh gave every guest bowler, a run for their money and later the middle order never let the asking rate exceed beyond their reach. The opening duo participated into a superb 145-run partnership.

Once again, skipper Steve Smith and in form George Bailey kept the score board ticking by their running between the wickets and punished every lose delivery. By the time Steve Smith departed, in the 41st over, Aussies had already things in their control.

Brilliant comeback by Australian bowlers in death overs:

It was only Indian bowlers who went for runs, but the fact that separates Australians bowlers from their Indian counterparts is their bowling in the death overs. In a stark contrast to Indian bowlers, Australians came back strongly in the last powerplay.

Indian batters managed to amass just 75 runs in the final 10 overs even when they had 8 wickets in their hands. They even grabbed 6 wickets in the final 10 overs which prevented the Indians from heading towards a massive total. They kept the explosive batsmen like Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni, Manish Pandey and Ravindra Jadeja silent during the death overs and thus preventing the Indians from getting the psychological advantage.

This shows the control Australian death over bowlers had while their Indian counterparts hardly offered any restraint.

Virat Kohli's suicidal run out, MS Dhoni's bad form:

India was comfortably heading for a 350+ total when Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were batting at the crease until suddenly Virat Kohli ran for a suicidal second run in the 24th over which cost him his wicket. Virat's dismissal broke the momentum and as a result Team India clearly fell short of 50 odd runs. Agreed, cricket is a game of uncertainities but the way the Test skipper was out certainly raised several eyebrows for there wasn't a requirement of any such hurry.

Another prime concern for the side is skipper MS Dhoni's continued lean patch with the bat. The skipper promoted himself after Rohit Sharma's unlucky dismissal but things hardly changed for the side. Dhoni once again failed to play the big shots and went back to the pavilion after scoring just 11 runs thus leaving an extra burden over youngster Manish Pandey to hit big shots. Dhoni's poor form has become a matter of concern for the team because there is hardly any other big hitter in the side, except Dhoni, who could churn out runs in the death overs.

It seems no lessons were learnt from the previous game as it was almost the replica of the previous game.

Poor bowling, a concern for Team India

It was not only Ishant who disappointed with his bowling effort, just like the previous game, spinners R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja hardly posed any trouble to Aussies.

Catches win matches: Indians dropped 5 catches

Indian fielders dropped "five" catches in today's game and helped the Australians build crucial partnerships.

Superb batting display by Australians

The Australian batters looked in control from the very first over they came out to bat. Initially, the openers Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh gave every guest bowler, a run for their money.

Brilliant comeback by Australian bowlers in death overs

The fact which separates Australian bowlers from their Indian counterparts is their bowling in the death overs. In a stark contrast to Indian bowlers, Australians came back strongly in the last powerplay.

Virat Kohli's suicidal run out, MS Dhoni's bad form

Skipper MS Dhoni's continued lean patch with the bat has become a concern for the side. MSD's bat has been silence for long.

No lessons learnt from Perth defeat

Having set a competitive target of 309 runs, Indian bowlers yet again proved ineffective and failed to build any pressure over Australian batsmen, thereby losing the match by 7 wickets.

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