Twitter Reactions: Australia win the low-scoring thriller by three wickets in Vizag

What a match! India were down and out in the game a number of times. But Australia’s inexplicable cricket in the second half of the chase and then the way the spinners and Jasprit Bumrah bowled in the death overs brought the game down to the last over. However, all the hard work done went in vain in the last over where Umesh Yadav conceded 14 runs.

The duo of Jhye Richardson and Pat Cummins played some street-smart cricket while facing Umesh and squeezed out a couple of boundaries to seal a famous win in the first of the two-match series.

The chase began with Australia being the favourites. But Marcus Stoinis and Aaron Finch were dismissed early by the home side to leave them stunned at 5/2 in the first couple of overs. But then D’Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell played sensibly as they mixed caution with aggression to stitch an 84-run stand in less than 12 overs. At 89/2, the latter had scored a half-century and should’ve been a cakewalk.

But Maxwell’s wicket, like it was in India’s innings, triggered a collapse and suddenly India were favourites. The trio of Krunal Pandya, Bumrah and Mayank Markande bowled impeccably well. Bumrah especially was superb in the penultimate over giving only two runs. But the last over didn’t go India’s way as Australia won a low-scoring thriller which ideally should’ve been a walk in the park for them.

Rahul shines for India

Earlier in the day, India were invited to bat first by Aaron Finch and the hosts were stunned early by Jason Behrendorff. Rohit Sharma tried to play a lap shot too early in the innings and didn’t time it well entirely. Then the skipper Virat Kohli and KL Rahul rebuilt the innings and stitched a 55-run partnership for the second wicket. However, Adam Zampa accounted for the latter to slow down the innings considerably.

Rahul though looked fluent in his comeback game and slammed a brilliant half-century. However, by the time, he reached the milestone, India had lost another wicket in Rishabh Pant due to some exceptional fielding from Behrendorff. Soon after his fifty, even Rahul tried to force the pace and lost his wicket which triggered the unlikeliest of collapse.

From 80/2 they were reeling at 109/7 in around four overs after which MS Dhoni took things in control. Though he farmed more of a strike, the veteran couldn’t do much which led India to a below-par total of 126 runs for the loss of seven wickets after 20 overs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the sensational game:

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