India VS Australia T20I: Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav lead India to a 2-1 win over Australia
India might have come into the Australia T20I series with plenty of question marks due to their poor showing in the Asia Cup. However, they proved there is enough quality for them to remain a threat in bilateral series’ – and maybe, just maybe, their T20 World Cup hopes aren’t quite dead
Virat Kohli: Back as a finisherFor in the deciding T20I in Hyderabad, the hosts turned up when it mattered most. Thanks in large part to half-centuries from Virat Kohli (63) and Suryakumar Yadav (69), India marched home to a six-wicket win on Sunday (September 25).
Not that it was as easy a win as the scorecard made it out to be. Indeed, both teams ended up suffering a bit of a blip in scoring in the middle of their respective innings.
For India, that came after the dismissal of Yadav. He and Kohli and done well to resurrect the run-chase after India lost openers KL Rahul (1) and Rohit Sharma (17) cheaply.
Their 104-run stand not only revived the run-chase after India was 30-2 in less than four overs, but it put them in an excellent position to take the game home.
However, India struggled to up the ante once Surya departed. Kohli could not get the big shots needed to keep the scoreboard pressure away, so Australia went into the final few overs with an outside chance of clinching the game.
They needed 32 runs to win in the final three overs. At the end of the 18th over, they needed 22 to win. A further ten runs in the penultimate above meant India needed 11 off the final.
It had all the makings of a tricky run-chase, but Kohli eased the pressure with a six off the first ball. Daniel Sams dismissed him on the next ball, but it felt like a consolation prize at best.
In came Dinesh Karthik, who ran a single and gave Hardik Pandya the strike. Pandya played out a dot ball, but a clever shot past the third man region went for four and sealed the series for India.
For Australia, this series was less about momentum and more about experimentation. They are missing key players but will be happy with some of the fringe members’ performance – especially Cameron Green.
Green’s quickfire 50 atop the order set the ball rolling for the visitors in the first innings. However, India applied a middle-overs squeeze courtesy of Yuzvendra Chahal (4-0-22-1) and Axar Patel (4-0-33-3).
However, valuable knocks from Josh Inglis (24) and Sams (28), as well as a brutal knock from Tim David (54), ensured the Aussies finished the innings at 186-7.
Despite this, there remain problems for India to sort out. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was expensive in the death again, and Harshal Patel only bowled two overs – although the 20th over he bowled was excellent, going for just seven runs.
But these are questions to be solved in the South Africa series. For now, the team can bask in the glory of yet another bilateral series win.