India Beat Australia In Sydney Thriller To Win Dettol T20I Series At 2-0!
Kohli won the
toss, and took a tricky decision by inviting the hosts to bat first. Australia raced
towards a huge score from the word go with stand-in captain Wade (in absence of
injured Finch) making 58 quick runs before getting run out in an amusing
situation. The Indian bowlers, Shami and Bumrah rested, got hit all around the
park except for the great IPL-find Natarajan who put the brakes on also capturing
two wickets. However, India could not prevent the hosts putting up a very
challenging score of 194/5, perhaps about 20 runs more than the visitors desired.
India’s chase of
195 started with caution in the first two overs after which both the openers, Rahul
and Dhawan, opened up scoring freely all around. In fact, the chase had been a
total team effort with every batsman contributing to it significantly. It was again
a dicey decision to send Hardik Pandya at no.5 with a better batsman Shreyas Iyer
still waiting in the dressing room. After a hesitant start Pandya never looked
back, till he hit the winning six. The asking rate had also been kept around 10
per over almost throughout the chase. Indian needed 25 runs from the last two
overs. Pandya reduced it to 14 needed off the last over, and he hit two huge
sixes to help his team win the match with two balls to spare.
The first match in
Canberra was a low-scoring one as India managed to set a target of just 161 for
the hosts thanks largely to a rollicking 44 by Ravindra Jadeja who got hit in
the helmet during the innings and could not field in the Australian chase. That
in fact was the turning point as the concussion replacement Chahal sparkled
with three scalps. And Natarajan who kept his nerve till the last moments presented
the other haul of three wickets as Australia could manage only 150/7 in the
allotted 20 overs.
On the major
takeaways so far Natarajan has been a terrific addition to bolster the pace attack
with Bumrah and Shami back in future; the form of Pandya is also very heartening
and he should be fit for bowling too as soon as possible; the top four batsmen
finally came into the picture in the second T20I match; and the Indian fielders
have started taking some very good catches of late. On the flip side the Indian
fielders continue to drop catches too including the ever-agile Kohli and most
of the bowlers, particularly the spinners, have still not found good line and
length. Overall, Team India seems to have steered clear of the pandemic
frame-of-mind.
The last match of the Dettol T20I Series will be played in Sydney on 8th December, and thereafter the all-important Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test Series is going to start in Adelaide from December 17 which will be a pink-ball day/night affair.
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