IND v AUS, 1st T20I Review: Rampant India too hot for the Aussies to handle

In a rain-affected encounter, India managed to thump the Australians fair and square at Ranchi and took a 1-0 lead in the 3-match T20 series. Australia had a new captain in David Warner today as Steve Smith was ruled out due to an injury. Yet, the results didn’t change much as their batting unit faltered yet again.

Batting first, Australia lost their skipper David Warner very early in the innings, which didn’t help their cause. Glenn Maxwell as few of them expected, came out to bat at number 3 and struggled a lot. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had him under his control and the way he made him dance in the crease was just top quality stuff.

Who else, but Yuzvendra Chahal managed to get the better of Maxwell, who was already under a lot of pressure this innings. He pulled a short ball straight into the hands of mid-wicket. Aaron Finch got going at one end and the batsmen at the other end kept making life difficult for him. Travis Head, who came in at 4, struggled just the way Maxwell did.

The one sole person who was able to pick the spinners, Aaron Finch, got dismissed just before the halfway mark and that was it for the Aussies. Kuldeep Yadav and rest of the bowlers dominated the rest of the show by not allowing any of the batsmen to get under their skin. It was a comprehensive effort from the bowlers and gives the visitors a lot to think about themselves.

Finch was clean-bowled by Kuldeep and then, he rattled the sticks of Moises Henriques. Pandya came into the attack to dismiss Travis Head and things turned out to be a disaster for them. Dan Christian ran himself out thanks to some misunderstanding and though Tim Paine struck a few boundaries, it was never enough.

Jasprit Bumrah picked up 2 wickets for the side and gave away just 17 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pandya and Chahal picked up one wicket each and this collective brilliance from the contingent crucified their counterparts. But the star of the day was Kuldeep Yadav, who picked up 2 wickets and gave away just 16 runs in his 4 outstanding overs.

Australia was strangling in a predicament at 118/8 in 18.4 overs when rain disrupted the play. The rain gods didn’t calm down for a long period of time, but hats off to the Ranchi crowd, who were glued to their seats hoping for a 5-over chase at the least. It seemed for some time as that wouldn’t happen, but thanks to some special effort from the ground staff, the ground was back in good condition and the revised target for India was 48 runs in 6 overs.

A walk in the park

On all the occasions when a target has been revised this way, we’ve seen batting sides chase the targets down easily. Something similar happened today as well, as the Indian batters wasted no time in putting their arch-rivals to bed. Rohit Sharma struck a huge six to get the innings going but in an audacious attempt to replicate the same, his stumps got shattered.

Shikhar Dhawan, who was back in the team after a long period of time, struck a few boundaries to boost his confidence. Kohli too got going with some brilliant shots and the target condensed easily as many expected. There was some tension around when Coulter-Nile bowled a decent over and the equation was 12 runs in 12 balls.

Adam Zampa gave away 6 runs in the penultimate over and though there were some nervous faces, Kohli completed the job easily with a boundary off Dan Christian. India recorded a 9-wicket win and this happens to be their 7th successive triumph against the men from down under in T20Is.

Brief Scores

Australia: 118/8 in 18.4 overs(Aaron Finch 42; Kuldeep Yadav 2/16, Jasprit Bumrah 2/17)

India: 49/1 in 5.4 overs (D/L Revised Target)