IND vs AUS 1st T20I report: Although this win wouldn’t allay all the pains of the World Cup 2023 final loss, India can take heart that they started their preparations for next year’s T20 World Cup with a win in a thrilling last-ball contest against Australia.
For the three days leading into this first T20I, Suryakumar Yadav had been chastised and trolled severely on social media for his knock of 18 runs in 28 balls in the World Cup final. He has mitigated many of those and turned his criticism into some sort of praise with his blistering knock of 80 runs in 42 balls in the 1st T20I in Visakhapatnam. This game was also Suryakumar Yadav’s India captaincy debut, and he bagged the Man of the Match in it.
It wasn’t, though, any surprise that Suryakumar was at his belligerent best last night in Vizag, because T20 cricket is his best format of the three, and the surface in the first game encouraged stroke-hitting, much more than the one he struggled on in Ahmedabad four days ago.
IND vs AUS 1st T20I report:
Suryakumar had won the toss and elected to bowl first. While Matthew Short was bowled by Ravi Bishnoi early on, Josh Inglis unleashed himself on the second-string Indian bowlers, smashing a 47-ball century. Steve Smith, on the other end, struggled for proper timing. He managed 52 runs, but that came at a strike rate of only 126. Australia posted 208/3.
In reply, India lost vice-captain Ruturaj Gaikwad for a Diamond Duck as he got run out without facing a ball. The other young opener, Yashasvi Jaiswal, cracked 21 runs in 7 balls before getting out to Short.
Then came a sensational partnership between Suryakumar and Ishan Kishan. After Kishan took his time to get going, the two Mumbai Indians boys tore into every Aussie bowler in their partnership of 112 runs in 60 balls. As per the IND vs AUS 1st T20I report, The duo walloped 11 fours and 9 sixes, putting India on the path to victory.
There was one final twist, though. When Suryakumar got out, India needed 15 runs in 14 balls, and Australia saw this as an opportunity to come back into the game. It came down to 7 runs off 6 balls. In the last over, three wickets fell in three consecutive deliveries, two of which were run-outs. The match came down to 1 run needed on the last ball. Rinku Singh kept his cool and smashed Sean Abbott for a six to seal India’s win.
According to the India vs Australia T20I series report, the last twist, though inconsequential, was that Abbott had overstepped on the last ball, so India won the match with one ball to spare and Rinku’s six didn’t add to the scorecard.
Also read:
India vs Australia T20I series report
Get ICC World Cup 2023 Live Score & ICC World Cup 2023 Team Squads along with ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 at IceCric.News and Follow for Live Updates – Twitter, Facebook & Instagram.
