A late surge from Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant wasn’t enough for India as the Virat Kohli led side lost the opening T20I in Brisbane by four runs to begin their Australian sojourn on a poor note.
A brave 76-runs from Shikhar Dhawan gave India a good chance of winning the match but a flurry of wickets helped Australia tighten the screws. A late flourish from the bats of Karthik (30 runs off 13 balls) and Pant (20 runs off 16 balls) did raise India’s hopes of a victory but they fell agonisingly short at the end by just four runs. The hosts, who were under pressure going into the match proved they can be hard customers to deal with as they now take a 1-0 lead in the three-match affair.
India would also walk out of the game with a worry on skipper Virat Kohli’s form. The prolific right-hander, who has been India’s best performer in recent times played out an uncharacteristic inning of four runs from eight balls much to the disappointment of the Indian camp and it wasn’t a surprise that the visitors finished on the losing side at the end of the contest.
Karthik, who had earlier taken India home in the Nidahas trophy with a blitzkrieg of an innings once again threatened to do so. The wicket-keeper batsman hit four fours and one six in his 13-ball knock but failed to emulate his match-winning feat this time around. And despite Kuldeep hitting a four of the last ball of the innings, it was Finch’s side who had the last laugh. The highlight of this innings was a stunning catch by Maxwell to dismiss Krunal Pandya.
The Australian innings got off to a sedate yet nervy start with opener and captain Finch surviving a dropped chance at cover from his counterpart and one of the best fielders in the game today in Kohli. But his partner at the other end, D’ Arcy Short was soon shown the way to the pavilion after Kuldeep pulled off a good catch off the first ball of a young Khaleel Ahmed. An ecstatic Ahmed had provided India with the breakthrough and it didn’t take long for the same combination of Kuldeep and Khaleel to strike again.
This time, it was the spinner who had the ball in hand as he foxed Finch, and an outside edge found Khaleel at backward point to hand India the second wicket.
Chris Lynn, known for his exploits in T20 cricket then packed a punch as a counter-attack with 20-ball 37 laden with four huge sixes and one four before the chinaman bowler once again gave India the breakthrough, catching an effort off his bowling to had Lynn walk back to the dressing room.
Also read: Hardik Pandya hopeful of making comeback in ODIs against Australia
With the hosts needing some big hits to get to a substantial total, the duo of Maxwell and Stoinis joined forces and gave the innings some sort of traction as they shared a partnership of 78 crucial runs to land the hosts to a safe 158/4 before a rain-interruption made its presence felt.
For India, it was Kuldeep who starred once again with the ball with two wickets in his four overs where he gave away just 25 runs–a pretty decent figure if looked at from the perspective of T20 cricket.
Brief scores: Australia 158/4 (Glenn Maxwell 46, Chris Lynn 37; 2/25) beat India 169/7 (Shikhar Dhawan 76, Dinesh Karthik 30; Stoinis 2/21) by four runs by DLS method.
Image credit- Onmanorama-Malayasia Manorama