Twitter Reactions: Marcus Stoinis' all-round show trumps Karthik and Dhawan's effort at The Gabba

Australia have defeated Team India by four runs in the first T20 International to go 1-0 up in the series. It was such a close game and even had a rain interruption which reduced the contest to 17 overs per side. Shikhar Dhawan and Dinesh Karthik tried their heart out in a thrilling encounter but their efforts didn’t prove enough on the day as Marcus Stoinis bowled an exceptional last over. Though it was one heck of a game for the spectators and DLS method played a crucial role in the end as well.

Earlier after being invited to bat first, Australian openers Aaron Finch and D’Arcy Short were extremely for the first three overs. They played the new ball carefully and concentrated on not losing the wicket. The pressure was telling on the struggling Short as Khaleel Ahmed struck off the very first ball while the Aussie skipper started opening up his hands.

He found an able partner in Chris Lynn who on his home ground hammered the ball from the word go. Lynn took the special liking to the young Khaleel Ahmed and tore him apart for 20 runs in a single over to get the momentum going. Finch also had some fun in the middle during the 40-run partnership before being done in by Kuldeep Yadav’s variations. The same bowler also dismissed the dangerous looking Lynn as he made 37 off just 20 balls.

At 75/3, the hosts were in a spot of bother and India were bossing the game but little did they know that Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell will go hammer and tongs. Krunal Pandya was under the pump this time and he clearly looked out of sorts. The left-arm spinner delivered some rank long hops which the two batsmen took full toll of. He conceded a huge 55 off his four overs while Khaleel was taken apart for 42 runs in his three overs.

The heavens opened up in the 17th over when Australia were 153/3 and set to post a huge total. But the amount of time which was wasted led to the match being reduced to 17 overs only and a good over from Jasprit Bumrah meant they could reach 158 runs. However, according to the DLS method the target was revised to 174 runs.

Dhawan’s blitz goes in vain

India started their chase with needing more than 10 runs per over. But one of their openers Rohit Sharma didn’t look comfortable in the middle and was dismissed by Jason Behrendorff. But his partner Shikhar Dhawan hit the straps quickly by taking the attack to the opposition. He caressed the ball through extra covers at will and used his feet superbly to collect the boundaries at good pace.

But the batsmen at the other end weren’t able to support Dhawan. KL Rahul looked good for a couple of shots but was snaffled by Adam Zampa. Virat Kohli also had a rare poor day with the bat and in the field as all he could muster was four runs off eight balls. Zampa bowled an exceptional spell of 2/22 to scalp them.

Dhawan was trying it all alone and his 76-run knock had kept India in the game. But even he was caught at the deep fine leg in the 12th over which had eventually ended the game for the visitors. The equation boiled down to 60 off just 24 balls with Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant in the middle. This is where the game changed as Andrew Tye was taken apart by the batsmen.

Pant churned out 10 runs off the first two balls while Karthik ended it with a brilliant maximum as a massive 25 runs came off the over. Suddenly 35 runs off three overs looked possible. Karthik brought his experience to the fore then to bring it down to 13 off the last over with Stoinis handed over the responsibility.

Krunal Pandya was on strike and his bad day also continued. He could only score a couple of runs in three balls of the over. Karthik then was undone by the slower one by the bowler as he was holed out at the long off which eventually ended the contest. Despite the fact that Kuldeep hit the boundary, India fell short of the target by just four runs as Australia took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Here’s how Twitter reacted during the match: