Australia vs India, 2018: 1st T20I – Memes of the game

It rained sixes and then the rain gods made an appearance as well after resumption it still rained boundaries for India this time. The Australia vs India 1st T20I on expected lines was a high-scoring game, there was a rain intervention, reduced overs and in the thrilling game, it was the home team that took the honours by 4 runs. It was just the perfect way for these two high-profile teams to start the series.

Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bowl first. From the 12-man squad they had released last evening Yuzvendra Chahal didn’t make it to the XI. Australia decided to pick leg-spinner Adam Zampa over Nathan Coulter-Nile. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah got the innings off to a start well in favour of the Indian team. D’Arcy Short who was promoted to open ahead of Chris Lynn could only contribute 7 before becoming Khaleel Ahmed’s first and only success in the game.

Skipper Aaron Finch and Lynn got going soon enough and the pair looked in ominous touch for India. Kuldeep Yadav first got rid of Finch as he failed to read a googly and then caught Lynn of his own bowling but not before they had contributed 27 and 37 runs respectively. The team total was still nowhere near par and at 75/3 in 10.1 overs Australia still had a lot of work to do. That’s where the two all-rounders Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis put their hands up. The duo added 78 runs for the fourth wicket and punished the Indian bowlers especially Krunal Pandya.

The left-arm spinner didn’t get his line right throughout and it was easy pickings for someone like Maxwell who enjoys batting against the slower bowlers. There was a rain interruption in the 17th over and with the loss in time it was reduced to a 17-overs a side game.

Maxwell got out on the first ball after resumption on 46 and Stoinis finished on 33. Australia managed to post 158/4 in 17 overs and the target for Team India as per the DLS method was 174 in that many overs.

Rohit Sharma played a foul shot pretty early in his innings and Jason Behrendorff got the breakthrough. Shikhar Dhawan at the other end was playing his own game, run-scoring was unbelievably easy for the left-hander. He played his shots all around the ground and with utmost conviction. KL Rahul and skipper Kohli got out cheaply and the pressure was building on India.

It was Zampa who accounted for both their wickets and it was a huge task for India thereon to make a game out of it. Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik tried their best with some really good hits. But their 20 and 30 runs knock respectively couldn’t take India over the line and in the end, they lost the game by 4 runs.

Here are the best memes that emerged on social media during the game: