AUSTRALIA: India unveiled a surprise for Australia as Shami bowled the final over. Australia lost four wickets in the final over. Due to a spectacular catch by King Kohli and exceptional yorkers by Shami, India won the thrilling game by 6 runs.
Indian Innings
Australia won the toss and chose to bowl first. As expected, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul opened the batting for India. In particular, Rahul looked in good touch as he was timing the ball very well. He was hitting boundaries all over the ground and with every bowling change Finch made, Rahul was on top of them.
KL Rahul quickly reached 50 off 27 balls and skipper Rohit remained a silent spectator on the other end. Rohit Sharma only played 5 balls till Rahul’s half-century.
Rohit Sharma then joined the action with a six and a four off Maxwell’s ball to finish the powerplay with 69/0.
For Australia, Glenn Maxwell gave them the first breakthrough straight after the powerplay by dismissing Rahul on 57 of 33 balls. Rahul’s innings included 6 boundaries and 3 sixes.
On the very next over, Ashton Agar dismissed Rohit on (15). He tried to slog him through mid-wicket and was caught in the deep in a similar way to that of Rahul. This left India 80-2 after 8.2 overs.
Kohli and Suryakumar joined the crease after the fall of two quick wickets and India reached 100 runs in only 10.2 overs.
Despite the loss of two wickets, Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav were intent on scoring, which cost Kohli his wicket when he attempted to pull a short ball from Mitchell Starc and was caught on fine leg. Kohli scored 19 runs off 13 deliveries and India were 122-3 after 12.3 overs.
Soon after Kohli, Pandya also lost his wicket in the 13th over. He couldn’t help but nudge the back of the hand short ball of Kane Richardson and got caught in the short third man.
India were 138-4 after the end of 15 overs with Karthik and Suryakumar in at the crease. Karthik scored 20 off 14 but was dismissed in the 16th over trying to slog Richardson. On the other hand, the in-form batsman, Suryakumar, kept scoring at a good pace.
Suryakumar scored 50 off 33 deliveries which included 6 fours and 2 sixes. Suryakumar was dismissed softly as he tried to flick Richardson but instead got a top edge and was caught by the bowler himself.
Ashwin came in and hit a six in the fifth ball of the last over but lost his wicket to Richardson in the final over.
India finished at 186-7 in 20 overs. India was short by at least 10 to 15 runs thanks to some tidy bowling from Richardson and Starc. Richardson remained the pick of the bowlers by taking 4 wickets.
Australian Innings
Skipper Finch was opening the innings with All-rounder Mitchell Marsh, which is a rare sight. At the start of the innings, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Arshdeep Singh both showcase some swing. But after Pandya’s over momentum shifted and Marsh was whacking every ball, he scored a quickfire 35 of 18 balls before dragging one on his own stumps and was bowled by bhuvi. Aussies in reply scored 64 runs in the first 6 overs in their powerplay.
Finch and Smith then took the opportunity of India’s wavered Bowling and scored 92 of the first 10 overs.
After 10 overs, Australia needed 93 runs off 60 deliveries which looked quite easy for Australia as they had 9 wickets remaining.
Yuzvendra Chahal gave India their second breakthrough as he dismissed Steven Smith (11) in the 11th over.
Skipper Finch’s momentum led him to a valuable half-century in the 13th over, and he was looking cautious as well, scoring boundaries when needed. His intent seemed quite obvious that he wanted to stay on the wicket and win the game for Australia.
Chahal dropped a catch of Maxwell in the 14th over, which could have been a turning point for India. In the 15th over, Australia was 144-2 and needed 43 runs off the final five overs.
Bhuvi removed Maxwell for 23, but India still needed something more to turn the game around from here.
In the 17th over Australia lost Stoinis but even after his dismissal they just needed 16 runs from the last two overs and skipper Aaron Finch was still at the crease.
In the 18th over, India got back-to-back two wickets. Harshal Patel removed Captain Finch on 79, and a direct throw from Kohli ran out Tim David. A match which looked almost on Australia’s side now had something for India.
Australia needed only 11 runs from the final over, but Shami’s brilliant yorkers and Kohli’s stunning catch made it impossible for Australia to score 11 runs, and as a result, India won the match by 6 runs.
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