With two runs required to win from the last delivery, Australia held their nerve to go one-up in the two-match T20I series against India. The manner with which the Australians went about their business early in their innings was in stark contrast to the way in which the Indians struggled after being put in by Aaron Finch. Two blows in quick succession – a run-out that saw the back of Marcus Stoinis and Jasprit Bumrah trapping Finch for a leg before verdict that was reviewed and adjudged to be the umpire’s call – failed to deter the Aussie chase.
D’Arcy Short (37) came into the squad as cover for Shaun Marsh, who is expected to join the team midway through the ODI series. And the left-handed opener made the most of the opportunity to join forces with Glenn Maxwell for a third wicket partnership of 84 runs. The Aussie No.4 was the only batsman who looked fully in control of everything he did at Visakhapatnam stadium on Sunday. In clinically marshalling the reply, even if they had only 126 for seven to chase down, Maxwell made a case for himself to be in the mix even the Aussies nail down their choices for the World Cup. But more importantly his 56 ensured Australia emerged on the winning side of a tricky chase much to the dismay of the crowd.
The Aussies required 60 runs off last 60 and it soon became 16 from the last two overs after Maxwell holed out to Rahul and Short was run out in a terrible mix-up with Peter Handscomb. Bumrah once again proved to be a thorn in the Aussie flesh as the penultimate over of the innings yielded two runs and saw Dhoni run almost till short fine leg to get rid of Handscomb. He then cleaned up Nathan Coulter-Nile for good effect. With 14 required in the last over, Umesh Yadav undid all the good work as Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson took them to 127 for seven.
India had earlier suffered for want of momentum and faltered after KL Rahul’s 55-run stand for the second wicket with skipper Virat Kohli ended. India rested Shikhar Dhawan and opened with Rahul as they look to give plenty of opportunities to the Karnataka batsman and Rishabh Pant before they firm up their plans for the World Cup. Rahul came good with 50 on a day when Punjab leggie Mayank Markande made his debut for India, while Australia gave a T20I cap to Pete Handscombe, who also donned the wicket-keeper’s role and did a good job in making use of the Jason Behrendoff throw from point to run out Pant.
