A see-saw battle ended in Australia’s favour by four runs in the rain-hit opening T20 against India at the Gabba in Brisbane on Wednesday.
Glenn Maxwell smacked 46 runs off 24 balls to fire Australia to 158-4 and rain cut the game short to 17-overs a side and thus, by DLS method, India were set a revised 174 runs. The visitors fell short despite a late charge led by Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant.
Shikhar Dhawan top-scored for India with 76 and looked to have India on course before a flurry of wickets brought Australia back in charge. A 25-run over from AJ Tye brought India back on top with 18 needed off 10 balls at one stage. But Pant’s wicket proved to the turning point.
Thirteen runs were needed off the last over by Marcus Stoinis was able to defend it.
Maxwell hit four sixes in his whirlwind knock before rain came, after Chris Lynn scored 37 runs off 20 balls to help Australia recover from a slow start.
This was after India won the toss and opted to bowl on a surprisingly green wicket. Kuldeep Yadav was picked ahead of Yuzvendra Chahal as expected, while the hosts also included a spinner in Adam Zampa and left out medium pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0-15) and Jasprit Bumrah (1-21) got India off to a good start but Aaron Finch (27) pulled things back a bit. Khaleel Ahmed (1-42) got the initial breakthrough as D’Arcy Short (7) was caught at long on. The left-arm pacer proved expensive thereafter.
Dhawan’s innings came in for plenty of praise but also a few in-law jokes.
Pant’s cameo ended due to poor shot selection.
DK came in for a lot of praise for taking India close to the win.
Ultimately...
Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!