Australia vs India: 5 unnoticed things from 3rd T20I at Sydney
A game with much at stake in the series decider at Sydney, India looked to level the series after rain denied them an easy win in the previous T20 at Melbourne. On the other hand, the hosts were in search of their first T20I series win against India in the last 10 years.
After winning the toss, Australia decided to bat first to claim the early honours and put pressure on the Indians for the chase in the latter half of the game. The hosts brought in Mitchell Starc in place of Jason Behrendroff as the only change while India went unchanged after an impressive performance in Melbourne.
Aussies got off to a flier with no wickets in the first six overs but the visitors pulled it back with few quick wickets in the middle overs. In the end, the late impetus from the likes of Chris Lynn and Alex Carey saw Australia post a total of runs in their allotted overs.
In response, the Indian opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan clobbered Australian attack to all parts of the ground to lay the foundation for the others to follow. However, few wickets in the middle-overs gave a certain hiccup before Virat Kohli, who was well-supported by Dinesh Karthik, saw the team home to seal a 6-wicket win to level the series 1-1.
Here’s a look at four unnoticed things from the match:
#5 Highest opening partnership for Australia in the series
After deciding to bat first, the home team got off to a good start negotiating India’s pace bowler upfront and then capitalizing in the first six overs.
The batting duo of Aaron Finch and D'Arcy Short saw their team in a comfortable position after the powerplay. Australia took full advantage of the fielding restrictions to muster 49 runs in the first six overs.
This was also their highest opening partnership in the series so far. In a previous couple of outings, the openers could only register stands of 24 and 1 in the first two matches of the series. Though both the openers looked confident on a wicket that didn’t have anything for the fast bowlers. However, they faced tough times against Indian spinners who got assistance from the surface to do enough to get the better of the batsman.