India level T20I series thanks to spinners, Kohli
India's streak of 7 successive T20I series wins on a trot might have ended but India's spin duo of Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav along with a captain's knock from Virat Kohli ensured that they leveled the T20I series 1-1 after winning the third T20I at Sydney.
Finch elected to bat first after winning the toss. The pitch was expected to be a little slow and favour the spinners. Australia made one change in the team. Jason Behrendorff made way for Mitchell Starc. Starc had not played a T20I match in 2 years. India went ahead with the same side.
Australian openers started off well for the first time in the series putting 68 runs on the board. As soon as the spinners came into play, Aussies were seen wobbling and they had put 119 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in the 16th over.
Carey and Stoinis’s cameo, in the end, ensured Australia had put on a decent total of 164 runs. Kuldeep Yadav was again economical with the ball finishing with 1/19 in 4 overs. Krunal Pandya, after being bashed in the first over, came back and ended with 4 wickets.
Chasing a target of 165, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan smacked the seamers in the power play. India had reached 62 runs in just 5 overs. India couldn't have asked for a better start than this. The last over of the power play saw the fall of Dhawan courtesy of Starc.
Kohli stepped in at number 3 for the first time in T20Is this year. Soon after Zampa got rid of Rohit, Virat and KL Rahul played cautiously but the latter never looked comfortable and eventually got out. Rishabh Pant did not trouble the scoreboard and suddenly the game was in the balance.
The stage was set for the chase master Virat Kohli. He was clinical with the bat, ably supported by the newly found T20I finisher, Dinesh Karthik. The skipper scored an impressive 61 runs off 41 balls in a tricky wicket and helped India cross the finish line with 2 balls to spare.
India would look to take the momentum going forward to the Test series, which starts next month.