Australia vs India, 1st T20I - Who Said What

The much-awaited series between Australia and India got underway today at The Gabba in Brisbane and the crowd was treated with a humdinger. It all went down the wire as the visitors fell agonisingly short of the target by just four runs. Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa turned it around for Australia with the ball with the ball after Dinesh Karthik and Rishabh Pant brought India back in the game with a blitzkrieg.

Earlier in the chase, it was Shikhar Dhawan who kept in the game throughout the 11.4 overs until he was in the middle. The flamboyant left-hander batted beautifully caressing drives through the covers and using his feet to the fast bowlers as well. But he didn’t get enough support from the other end. Rohit Sharma had an off day while KL Rahul also coule never hit the ball cleanly.

There were a lot of hopes from Virat Kohli, the man under immense focus on this tour, but even he disappointed by mustering only four runs. He endured a rare poor day by dropping a catch in the field as well. One felt that the game was out of India’s grasp after Dhawan’s wicket with 60 needed off the last four overs. But Andrew Tye gave away 25 runs in the next over thanks to Karthik and Rishabh Pant’s brutal hitting.

Karthik continued to play some brilliant strokes playing with the bowler’s mind and brought the equation down to 13 runs off the last over. But Stoinis’ variations were too good in the end as the India lost the game ever so closely.

Maxwell and Stoinis propel Aussies

Earlier, after losing the toss, Australia also started slowly. D’Arcy Short’s struggles continued but his partner Aaron Finch and Chris Lynn took the bowling apart. After the duo was dismissed, it was the turn for Glenn Maxwell tuo turn the heat on the opposition. While Lynn took the attack to Khaleel Ahmed, Krunal Pandya was in the firing line of Maxwell.

Stoinis also added some crucial runs and just when everyone thought that the home side was going to post a total close to 200 runs, the heavens opened up in the 17th over. The play resumed and Australia were allowed to bat for only five deliveries with the game being reduced to 17 overs per side and they could reach 158 for the loss of four wickets.

The target for India was revised to 174 which eventually proved just enough for the Men in Yellow to go 1-0 up in what is expected to be a close series.

Man of the Match, Adam Zampa said:

Stoked. Really good feeling. Virat being the player he is, just thought he was a big wicket at the time. Getting him out, I was really excited. Never trust Carey with his decisions behind the stumps, with his DRS decisions. He got this one right.

Australia captain, Aaron Finch said:

Thought the boys played really well, especially in the middle overs with the bat. Showed a lot of courage to take it on.

Some of our bowling was outstanding under pressure. Never been my strong point at school (maths). Just stuffed it up out there.

He’s been practicing a lot (Stoinis). It’s one strength he wants to add to his bowling. Going with three frontline quicks, and one all-rounder in Stoinis, he is the one we wanted to do that job at the end. And he did it beautifully.

India captain, Virat Kohli said:

Lot of Indians came in to support us which is always the case anywhere we play. It was a close game, exciting one for the crowd to watch and for the players as well. Was a see-saw battle.

Started well with the bat, fumbled in the middle overs, in the end we thought we’ll win with Pant and Karthik but it changed again with Pant’s dismissal.

He’s (Dhawan) a very strong player at the top of the order. Hasn’t got a T20 hundred yet, but the way he plays it really benefits the team.

That’s how it goes in the game. What we can do is learn from them (mistakes) and get back better. On the day, if we can have three-four guys to stand up for the team, that’s what we want. Don’t have much time to think of things, which can be a good thing as well as a bad thing.