Australia vs India: Mitchell Starc bowls a stunning delivery to dismiss Shikhar Dhawan

After losing the One-Day series by 2-1, India is up against Australia in the first T20 International of three-match series at Manuka Oval in Canberra. Losing the toss, Virat Kohli & Co. were sent to bat first. India made some surprising changes in the squad as they entered the contest without Jasprit Bumrah, Yuzvendra Chahal and Shreyas Iyer while T Natarajan is making his T20I debut.

Batting first, the opening woes for the visitors continued in the T20I also as Shikhar Dhawan lost his wicket in the third over on the delivery off Mitchell Starc. On the fifth bowl of the third over, Starc bowled a full-length delivery that clocked at 144 kmph. Dhawan was looking forward to hitting a big shot and thus made room by pulling his front leg away.

The left-hander wanted to drive the ball through the off-side but the ball witnessed a late swing and dismantled the off-stump. This resulted in Shikhar walking back to the pavilion at a score of 1 run off 6 deliveries while India registered a total of 11-1 on the scoreboard.

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India post a good total on the board

Shikhar Dhawan had a solid run in the just-concluded 13th edition of the Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for his franchise Delhi Capitals (DC) but he couldn’t continue his good form in the international circuit. Dhawan finished as second-highest run-scorer after wicketkeeper KL Rahul. The opening batter garnered 618 runs in 17 fixtures at a stunning average of 44.14 and strike rate of 144.73.

As far as the match is concerned, India looks in trouble as skipper Virat Kohli also departed early after scoring 9 runs off 9 balls at the delivery of leg-spinner Mitchell Swepson. He was soon followed by Sanju Samson and Manish Pandey who went back to the pavilion after adding 23 and 2 runs respectively. KL Rahul, who registered another half-century also lost his wicket to Moises Henriques after smashing 51 runs off 40 deliveries. At the end of 15 overs, India is reeling at a below-par score of 97 for 5.

For Australia, Mitchell Starc, Swepson, and Adam Zampa took one wicket each while Moises Henriques has three to his name. India went on to post 161 runs in 20 overs.