Glenn Maxwell and Matthew Wade smashed fifties while the spin duo of Mitchell Swepson and Adam Zampa picked up important wickets as Australia prevented India from clean sweeping the T20I series. The defeat also meant that the Men in Blue’s streak of an unbeaten 10 games in the format came to an end, as they lost by 12 runs in the third and final T20I at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Chasing 187 runs, the Indians got off to the worst possible start with in-form opener KL Rahul falling in the very first over of the innings that was bowled by Maxwell. However, that allowed the duo of Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan to get together and lay a solid platform. The Indian skipper was in fine form as he flicked, drove, and cut while the left-hander too collected important boundaries to ensure that the Indians ended the powerplay with 55 for 1 on the board. The scoring rate though fell drastically in the post powerplay phase, as Australia introduced the two legspinners, Swepson and Zampa, into the attack.
The visiting team struggled to pile on runs in the middle overs (between overs 7 to 15) as the asking rate climbed to over 15. Swepson was the chief wrecker as he picked up the wickets of Dhawan, Sanju Samson, and Shreyas Iyer, which meant that the side was left with a huge ask of scoring 75 in the last 5 overs. Though Kohli and Hardik Pandya smashed a couple of excellent boundaries and sixes, the task was almost improbable. Pandya was eventually out while looking for a big hit, while Andrew Tye got the better of Kohli when he was on 85. The spinners from the home team were the difference on the day, as they combined to pick up 4 wickets in their 8 overs whilst conceding just 44 runs.
Earlier in the game, the duo of Maxwell and Wade set the platform for a stiff target after joining each other on the field in the 10th over. They shared a stand of 90 runs in just under nine overs, with the two looking in an aggressive form. While Maxwell was at his cheeky best, especially against Yuzvendra Chahal, Wade was the more sedate of the two as he focused on pulling and slogging to keep the scorecard ticking. He eventually ended with seven fours and two sixes.
Source: Twitter (ICC)
The Indian bowling was nothing to write home about as Deepak Chahar, Chahal, and Shardul Thakur all struggled against some exceptional batting. The trio erred in line and lengths and gave away a number of loose deliveries, which allowed the mighty Australian batting attack to score runs freely. The only positives for the side were Washington Sundar and T Natarajan, who deceived the rivals with their accuracy and street-smart thinking. Sundar’s dismissal of Steven Smith was, in particular, very impressive. The young Indian spinner slowed the ball through the air and tempted him to loft one over the cover only to be clean bowled.
The side, however, managed to win the series 2-1, which completes the white-ball leg of the series Down Under. All eyes are now focused on the Test series that begins on December 17 at Adelaide.
Brief scores: Australia 186/5 in 20 overs (Matthew Wade 80, Glenn Maxwell 54; Washington Sundar 2-34) beat India 174-7 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 85; Mitchell Swepson 3-23) by 12 runs.