Mastercard T20I Series: Green, Wade heroics take Australia home

Cameron Green, Mathew Wade knocks ensured Australia won by 4 wickets in the first T20I against India and took series lead of 1-0. India made a surprising change dropping Rishabh Pant and bringing in Dinesh Karthik. Cameron Green played for Australia and was promoted as an opener. In the high-octane clash, Australia won the toss and chose to bowl as traditionally Mohali has been a good chasing ground.

Chasing 209, Australia came in all guns blazing, scoring a maximum off the very first delivery. Australian openers got off to an aggressive start in the powerplay, scoring 16 runs in the 2nd over and 14 in the 3rd over. Axar Patel broke the opening partnership getting rid of Aaron Finch in the 4th over. Cameron continued showing aggression with the bat. Australia was 60/1 after the powerplay. Steve Smith supported Cameron Green with an anchoring knock. As mentioned earlier, Cameron Green supported by Steve Smith played aggressively getting a partnership of 70 runs from 40 deliveries. India didn’t have the greatest day on the field dropping a couple of catches. Axar Patel once again got the breakthrough picking up Cameron Green in the 11th over. In the very next over, Umesh Yadav took wickets of Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell bringing India back in the game. Josh Inglis played a quick 9 ball 17 before losing his wicket to Axar Patel. With Mathew Wade in the crease, Australia needed 64 off 35 deliveries. Australia played to the situation and took it to 55 needed off the last 4 overs. Australia planned their innings well scoring 15,22 and 16 runs in 17th,18th and the 19th over to chase the target. Mathew Wade played a sensational knock of 45* from 21 deliveries consisting of 6 fours and 2 sixes. Tim David got 18 crucial runs. Axar Patel starred with 3 wickets. Umesh Yadav took 2 wickets to his name. A phenomenal batting display made sure Australia won the first T20I by 4 wickets and take a lead of 1-0.

 India got off to a decent start scoring 14 runs in the first overs before losing skipper Rohit Sharma in the 3rd over. India lost Virat Kohli in the 5th over finding themselves 46/2 after the powerplay. Two quick breakthroughs gave Australia the upper hand in the powerplay. KL Rahul and SuryaKumar Yadav tried to steady the innings. They took a very sensible approach trying to score a boundary every over and rotating the strike consistently. This helped India maintain the run rate. KL Rahul maintained the tempo and scored his 18th T20I fifty off just 32 balls. A visible change was seen as he took an aggressive approach in this game. Josh Hazelwood got the crucial wicket of KL Rahul in the 12th over. KL Rahul’s innings of 55 consisted of 4 boundaries and 3 maximums. KL Rahul and SuryaKumar Yadav made a partnership of 68 off 42 balls.

SuryaKumar tried to keep the momentum going and got a few shots away but eventually lost his wicket to Cameron Green. Axar Patel lost his wicket in the 16th over. Hardik Pandya from ball one had a clear mindset and attacked from ball one. He smashed the Australian bowlers all round the park. Dinesh Karthik lost his wicket in the 19th over. Hardik Pandya’s knock of 71 off 30 deliveries helped India score 60 runs off the last 4 overs. His innings consisted of 7 fours and 5 sixes. This helped India post a mammoth total of 208/6. Nathan Ellis and Josh Hazelwood contributed with 3 wickets and 2 wickets respectively.