India vs Australia, 1st T20I: India Player Ratings

India defeated Australia in the first of the three-match T20Is by 9 wickets by Duckworth Lewis Stern (DLS) method on a slow Ranchi surface. The visitors, like a norm, yet again crumbled against the wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal after a good start provided by Aaron Finch. Jason Behrendorff was handed a debut by Australia as he became the 88th T20I player to play for the country. Also Daniel Christian made his return to the side after his heroics in the T20 Blast in England.

After opting to field first, the hosts got off to a perfect start as Bhuvneshwar Kumar castled David Warner in the first over. But Finch took the initiative and played some attacking strokes and raced his way to 42 off 30 deliveries. He was snaffled by Kuldeep off a brilliant delivery as the visitors could not handle the tweakers in the middle overs. Rain interrupted during the 19th over of the innings and the match only restarted 5 minutes before the cut-off time. India chased the target of 48 with the loss of Rohit Sharma in the 6th over with 3 balls to spare to lead the series by 1-0.

Here we rate the Indian players based on their performance in the match:

1. Shikhar Dhawan: 6/10

Shikhar Dhawan returned to the side after a little break due to family health issues and looked fine with the bat. In the curtailed game and a tricky chase, he held his own and after the fall of Rohit Sharma’s wicket hit some crucial boundaries. He remained unbeaten in the middle on 15 off 12 deliveries with 3 fours. The knock must have given him the confidence and he would look to play a longer one in Guwahati.

2. Rohit Sharma: 4/10

Rohit Sharma opened the batting with Dhawan in a 6-over chase and scored a boundary off the very first delivery. But played four consecutive dot deliveries after that which might have been costly in the context of the game. However, he hit an elegant six off Nathan Coulter-Nile in the very next over only to get castled by a straighter one to lose his middle pole. He scored 11 off 7 deliveries but should have finished the game given his prowess with the bat.

3. Virat Kohli: 8/10

The skipper Virat Kohli yet again proved key to the chase which could have gone either way after the early wicket of Sharma. He took a couple of deliveries to get his eye in and scored some proper cricketing shots to get his team over the line. His 22 runs were the most pleasing throughout the game as he controlled the small target smartly. In the field too he was swift and ran out Daniel Christian in the death overs with a direct hit from long on. He used his wrist spinners well in the middle overs and also covered 4 overs Hardik Pandya in a brilliant manner.

4. Manish Pandey: N/A

Manish Pandey had no role to play in the game despite fielding the ball a few times in the deep. Also, he did not get an opportunity to bat with India losing only a solitary wicket. He would be eyeing the second game now to perform.

5. Kedar Jadhav: N/A

Kedar Jadhav too had nothing to do in the match as his part-time bowling wasn’t required. He didn’t get to bat as he bats lower down the order at 5 and the Indian chase lasted only until the sixth over.

6. MS Dhoni: 3/10

MS Dhoni also didn’t have any role to play but the marks given to him are only because of his missed stumping off Chahal. Tim Paine had a let off from the master behind the stumps when he was out of the crease and Dhoni failed to collect the ball. Though he rarely misses a stumping chance, he has set high standards that every time he is expected to be successful.

7. Hardik Pandya: 5/10

The latest sensation of the Indian cricket, Hardik Pandya bowled his full quota of overs. He went for 33 runs and picked a wicket of Travis Head. The all-rounder was taken to the cleaners by Finch in the powerplay as he strayed in his line and length. But made a decent comeback and conceded only 10 runs in his final couple of overs and picked up a wicket. He didn’t have the chance to bat though he was ready with his pads on in the dressing room.

8. Bhuvneshwar Kumar: 7/10

Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled well upfront with the new ball and disturbed the timber of the opposition skipper Warner in the very first over. Just like in the ODI series, he was in control of his line and lengths in the death and did not leak too many runs. His figures were decent and read 3.4-0-28-1. In the field, though he dropped a straightforward chance offered by Tim Paine which cost India few runs.

9. Kuldeep Yadav: 9/10

The left-arm chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav once again bamboozled the Aussies on a wicket which provided assistance to the spinners. Finch was bowled by a beauty by him which stopped the momentum gained by the Men in Yellow. His variations were literally unplayable the new set of T20 players could not handle him properly. He also fluffed Moises Henriques with a flighted tossed up the ball and induced the batsman to charge out of the crease only to get bowled again. He was deservedly the winner of the Man of the Match award as he gave only 16 runs in his 4 overs and picked the most important wickets of the opposition.

10. Yuzvendra Chahal: 8/10

Chahal, the leg-spinner, spun a web around the batsmen as soon as the powerplay was over and they never a found a way out of his spin. He continued to make Glenn Maxwell his bunny as this time he was lucky to get his wicket on a short ball which had pitched mid-way through the pitch. But he was also unlucky with MS Dhoni missing a stumping of Paine and he himself dropped a tough chance off his own bowling in the same over. But overall he was excellent once again and his figures read, 4-0-23-1.

11. Jasprit Bumrah: 8.5/10

Jasprit Bumrah has emerged as the best death bowler ever for India since his debut in the limited overs format. He was exceptional once again in Ranchi and was accurate with his pinpoint yorkers. He castled both Paine and Coulter-Nile in the same over with the near perfect deliveries and the batsmen couldn’t have anything. India and Bumrah would hope though that he continues to grow as a cricketer and most importantly stay away from injury. He could bowl only 3 overs due to rain and conceded just 17 runs with 2 wickets registered to his name.