5 Talking Points: Australia v India, 2nd T20I
The victorious Indian T20I squad after winning their first T20I series in AustraliaAfter having won the first T20I at the Adelaide Oval convincingly, India was looking to seal the three-match series at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.Australia won the toss and elected to field and allowed India to bat first. The Indian top-order once again proved their prowess as they piled on the runs at a healthy rate and scored 184/3 in 20 overs.Australia, having got off to a good start, failed to build on it and faltered in their chase, once again, as they fell short by 27 runs. Only captain Aaron Finch seemed to be in good touch as he scored a brilliant knock of 74.Finch's hamstring injury will be a matter of concern for Australia as he has been the hosts’ best player in the shorter format for a while.India, on the other hand, will be delighted with the effort put in by the batsmen and the bowlers as they put aside the disappointment of the ODI series loss and secured the T20I series 2-0 with one more game to go.Here are the five major talking points from the second T20I:
#1 Is Dhoni back?
MS Dhoni did not have a great outing during the ODI series. In addition to not being able to come up with good scores, he was not able to play shots freely too. However, in the two T20Is played, Dhoni's intent while batting has been much better.
Although Dhoni has faced only 12 balls in the two games, he has looked to attack right from the first ball he faces. He came in to bat at a time when a batsman cannot take much time to settle down. In the first game, he scored 11 off 3 balls while in the second T20I, Dhoni scored 14 off 9 balls.
Dhoni's intent is probably showing that he is finding his touch in batting at the right time before the World T20 begins. If Dhoni can continue playing positively as he has, so far, it would go a long way in helping India late in the batting innings when runs have to be scored at a good rate.