India vs Australia, 1st T20I - Who Said What

India and Australia played out a thriller in Vizag. This was the perfect start to the contest between the two teams as the visitors took the decisive lead in the two-match T20I series but not before almost botching up the low chase. The Men in Blue made a stunning comeback in the second half of the chase thanks to their exceptional bowling but in the end, the Aussie tailenders were too good as their street-smart cricket left India stunned.

Australia began the chase as favourites chasing the 127-run total. But they were soon left reeling at 5/2 after the first couple of overs. But Glenn Maxwell found his mojo almost immediately and though D’Arcy Short struggled a lot, he churned out some tough runs. The duo added 84 runs for the third wicket and put the team at a winning position in the 14th over.

At 89/2, they were in the driver’s seat. But there was one more twist in the game. Yuzvendra Chahal snaffled Maxwell and then began a famous collapse which have become too often in Australian cricket nowadays. From 89/2, they came down quickly at 113/7 with 14 needing in the final over. However, Jhye Richardson and Pat Cummins did it for them off the bowling of Umesh Yadav who erred the lines a couple of times and had to pay the price for the same.

India too collapse

Earlier, after being put in to bat first, India also started badly as Rohit Sharma failed to play a lap shot properly. But then KL Rahul and Virat Kohli batted well to take the total past the 50-run mark. Rahul, especially looked in touch which should be a good news for the team. However, both of them got out to trigger a collapse and soon they found themselves at 109/7 with only MS Dhoni in the middle.

The veteran farmed the strike in the final few overs but couldn’t middle most of the times as India ended up at a below-par total of 126 runs for the loss of seven wickets after 20 overs. Having said that, they almost defended it sensationally in the end.

Man of the Match, Nathan Coulter-Nile said:

I thought the boys bowled really well and we scraped home. We worked out quickly that the ball was not coming on to the bat. We have been playing a bit of cricket in the BBL. Really good to have a win and hopefully we will have another one and win the series.

Australia captain, Aaron Finch said:

I think on that wicket, it got lower and slower. The run-outs did not help but great to get the win. We were able to get some reverse and were bowling into the wicket. These guys are getting more and more experienced. Nathan is a wicket-taker. He has been very consistent in the IPL as well.

India captain, Virat Kohli said:

In the first innings, we were not up to scratch. The wicket was decent enough till the 15th over. We didn’t bat really well. A low scoring game is always on the cards in T20 cricket. With the bowling effort we were pleased.

Bumrah can do wonders with the ball when the ball is reversing and did exceptionally well to get us in the game. And Mayank did well in the middle overs as well. Anything is possible now. We want to give game time to Rahul and Pant to figure out what we need to do in the World Cup.

I think he (Rahul) played a really good knock, we had a good partnership. 150 would have been a winning score the way the pitch played. Australia deserved to win as they played better than us.

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