T20 World Cup, India vs Australia: Who won today's match?
In one of the most dominating performances so far in the T20 World Cup warm-up games and otherwise, India trounced Australia by nine wickets at the ICC Cricket Ground in Dubai on Wednesday.
Ravichandran Ashwin's 2/8 kept the Aussies down to 152-5 in the first innings which, led by stand-in skipper Rohit Sharma's effervescent 60 (41), India chased down with more than two overs to spare.
KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma Sharma opened the batting for India against the Australian duo of Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, who immediately found some swing which the Indian bowlers couldn't in the first innings.
Rohit Sharma got a couple of looseners from Cummins in the second over and obligingly hit them for fours, providing the perfect ignition for India's chase. Finch brought in off-spinner Ashton Agar to attack immediately, but Rahul allowed him no time to settle, cuffing the first ball for six over the bowler's head.
The same pattern continued for the first half of the innings. Rahul targeted Australia's spinners, at one time hitting two massive sixes against Zampa. Rohit simply focussed on rotating the strike while waiting for the right deliveries to hit. Together, the duo put up 68 runs before Rahul fell on the second delivery of the 10th over as his attempted loft over mid-off was caught easily by David Warner.
Rahul's wicket brought to the fore a version of Rohit Sharma that's more visible in international cricket than the IPL. He treated Mitchell Marsh and Maxwell to brutal sixes and Marcus Stoinis with a sweetly timed cut - therefore dismantling Australia's sixth-bowler weakness in one go.
Meanwhile, Suryakumar Yadav, who replaced Rahul at no.3, wasn't just going to sit and watch. He displayed ingenuity at the highest level, displaying those bottom-handed thumps over mid-wicket, casual flicks to express pacers and insouciant sweeps to pacers and spinners alike. He raced to 27 runs off just 18 balls by the 15th over, also bringing up a 27-ball 50 partnership between the two.
5⃣0⃣ for @ImRo45! 👏 👏
What a fine knock he is playing in the chase! 👍 👍
#TeamIndia 113/1 after 14 overs.
#INDvAUS #T20WorldCup https://t.co/lwSzew6NUR
With 26 runs to get from 30 balls, Rohit Sharma retired from the crease to allow Hardik Pandya some game time. But Suryakumar Yadav continued to get most of the strike until the 18th over and added 11 more runs to his tally. In the limited deliveries he faced, Hardik looked a bit scratchy but finished things off nicely by hitting a massive six against Kane Richardson to finish things off in style.
Innovative India keep Australia down to 148
INNINGS BREAK
Australia post 152/5 on the board.
2⃣ wickets for @ashwinravi99
1⃣ wicket each for @BhuviOfficial, @imjadeja & @rdchahar1
#TeamIndia's chase to begin shortly.
#INDvAUS #T20WorldCup https://t.co/oHLrdMrG8Q
Aaron Finch opted to bat first, apparently to give his team the challenge of putting a strong target in this predominantly chase-friendly venue. Against this context, 152-5 in 20 overs seemed about right.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar opened the bowling for India, looking tighter with his length than in the previous encounter against England. It helped that the out-of-form pacer was up against an even more struggling batter - David Warner.
Warner was trying to keep busy with his strike-rotation but looked lost in his timing. He survived the first over but couldn't do so against off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, who took the new ball from the other end. Ashwin saw the Australian go for a reverse sweep on his fifth ball and fired a quicker one straight onto his pads. Warner was hit in front of the middle stump and was adjudged lbw.
Birthday boy Mitchell Marsh replaced him at the crease. Glenn Maxwell had recently termed Marsh as "hitting the ball better than anyone ever". But Ashwin didn't seem to care as he sent the all-rounder packing for a golden duck.
He did that via a ploy he so often applies in Test matches - fooling the batter with a straight delivery on the first ball when he's come prepared for the turn. Marsh gave Rohit Sharma a straightforward catch in the slips.
Ashwin was removed from his spell on the hat-trick ball and Rohit Sharma threw the ball to Ravindra Jadeja. The move was an instant success as the left-arm off-spinner trapped Finch in front on the first ball of the over, reducing Australia to 11-3.
Three quick wickets from the Indians forced Australia to deploy its engine room early. The team's best players of spin, Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell, joined hands at the crease and resurrected the Aussie innings from ruins. While Smith played a mature knock, Maxwell went about it like he always does.
An intriguing phase followed as India brought on Rahul Chahar and Ravindra Jadeja for short spells. The spinners tried to keep Maxwell under control by keeping away his release shots, but the Royal Challengers Bangalore star was up to the mark, dolling out his reverse-sweeps and slightly mistimed slogs to keep the score ticking.
It was Chahar who had the last laugh. The leg-spinner bowled a full wrong'un on a wideish line and Maxwell went for a lofted swipe over cow corner. The ball sneaked past his swing, took an under-edge and hit the stumps. The dangerman had to walk back for a well-made 28-ball 37.
Rohit Sharma has talked about experimenting with a sixth bowling option in anticipation of the main tournament. And who else is there to take the job other than Virat Kohli himself? The Indian skipper, though taking a break from batting in this match, bowled a couple of overs of his gentle yet ungainly medium pace.
He was pretty tight in the first over but gave away a couple of looseners in the second. But an economy rate of six would be considered a job well done by both Indian and Australian camps. Also pleasing to see was the camaraderie between Kohli and Rohit as the latter made the bowling changes while the former bowled, with the duo shared a few tactical chats throughout the innings.
Varun Chakravarthy got the ball only in the 16th over and was immediately treated with a sneaky boundary to third-man from Marcus Stoinis. The designated finisher took confidence from that shot and went on to collect 41 runs off 25 balls, punishing Shardul Thakur, Kumar and Chakravarthy from overs 17 to 19.
Smith kept picking up singles and doubles and punishing loose deliveries on the other end and concluded with the innings' highest score of 57. Kumar did well to give away just six in the last over, while also taking Smith's wicket. India would be happy to see him show some glimpses of form in this match.
All in all, it was decent preparation for both India and Australia. Finch's side would have learned more about their weaknesses in this match and would look to come back strongly against it on Saturday. India, on the other hand, ticked off most of their boxes and threw down the gauntlet for arch-rivals Pakistan.