3 epic T20I encounters between India and Australia
The first T20I between Australia and India, to be played at Brisbane, is just a week away. Already, there are heavy expectations on the Indian considering their dominating performance against West Indies at home.
The 3-match T20I series will be followed by a 4-match Test series and 3 ODIs. This will be a perfect opportunity for Virat Kohli's team to make history down under as the current Australian side is weak and missing key players due to various reasons.
India had toured Australia in 2016 for a 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is. They lost ODI series 4-1 but triumphed in the T20Is by winning the series 3-0. Kohli and Rohit Sharma were the key contributors with the bat in that series and the expectations will be the same this time around as well. While India are favourites to win the ODI and T20I series, Australia cannot be taken lightly at any cost.
When it comes to head to head record in T20Is, both teams have clashed against each other on 15 occasions in which India won 10 games and Australia won 5 games. There have been many epic encounters between both the teams over years. Let us look at three memorable games between them over the years.
#3 Raina and Yuvraj seal last ball win for India - Sydney (2016)
This was the 3rd and final T20I played between both the teams in the 2016 season. Going into this game, India were already leading the 3 match series 2-0 and were looking for a whitewash.
Electing to bat first on a good batting deck, Australian skipper Shane Watson lead the way by scoring a blistering 124* of 86 balls. Australia amassed a huge total of 197/5 in their allocated 20 overs. Ashish Nehra was the pick of the bowlers for India with 1-32 in his 4 overs.
In reply, India got off to a flying start, thanks to Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. When Dhawan was dismissed in the 4th over, India were 46-1 and the onus was on Rohit and Virat Kohli to take India home.
Both Rohit and Kohli kept scoring at a brisk pace and India were well on course for a victory. However, both the batsmen fell in quick succession and it was on the shoulders of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh to win the game.
22 runs were required of 2 overs and an out of form Yuvraj Singh struggled to score boundaries of the penultimate over, which left India to score 17 off the last over. Andrew Tye was given the responsibility to bowl the last over and what followed was the magic of Yuvraj Singh.
The veteran left-hander scored a boundary and six of the first two balls to bring the equation to 7 off 4 balls. With 2 needing of the last ball, Suresh Raina smashed one over the point region for a boundary to bring up a memorable victory for Team India. India not only won the match but won the 3 match T20I series 3-0.