Maxwell, Coulter-Nile star in low-scoring thriller, Australia go 1-0 up

Australia defeated India by three wickets in a thrilling T20I at Vizag on Sunday. India managed only 126 for 7 in their 20 overs against Australia despite a half-century from comeback man KL Rahul. Jasprit Bumrah then bowled a brilliant 19th over to bring it down to 14 off the last six but Umesh Yadav could not finish off the job.

If it was KL Rahul’s wicket in India’s innings, it had to be Glenn Maxwell’s in Australia’s that suddenly disrupted smooth sailing and sprung life into the bowling sides but what proved to be the difference between winning and losing for India was the number of singles MS Dhoni had to refuse in the latter half of the innings because of the inability of India’s lower order to strike big.

Even the biggest experts would not have imagined that those few singles or a few hits of substance could turn out to be the decisive factor eclipsing the rash strokes by majority of India’s batsmen in a low-scoring thriller.

In the end, it came down to 2 runs off the last ball when Pat Cummins drilled it straight down to long on and scampered through for the second run to snatch victory for Australia.

The 127-run chase which looked rather easy for Australia barring the jitters at the top, became an untidy mess towards the end after Maxwell fell for a well-made 43-ball 56. Debutant Handscomb’s misjudgment then brought an unfortunate end to D’Arcy Short’s(37 off 37) innings to give India a glimmer of hope. Australia still had the match well in their control which was soon taken away by a miraculous penultimate over by Jasprit Bumrah, in which he conceded 2 runs and removed Peter Handscomb and Nathan Coulter-Nile of successive deliveries, bringing it down to 14 runs off the last over.

On a regular day, Bumrah’s penultimate over would have been followed by a Bhuvneshwar Kumar last over but that wasn’t to be because of India’s rotation policy. With 14 required off the last over, Umesh was hit for a boundary each by Jhye Richardson and Pat Cummins, who had identical scores of 7 not out as they reached the target of 127 off the last delivery of the match.

From an Australian perspective, it shouldn't have come down to this. Certainly not after an 84-run third wicket stand between Maxwell and Short. But like mentioned at the innings break by Jason Behrendorff, the pitch was not easy to bat on. Credit must be given to the Indian leg-spinners Yuzvnedra Chahal and debutant Mayank Markande too. Markande gave away only 5 runs in 18th over that created a lot of pressure on the Australian middle-order. Chahal too did his job by cleaning up Ashton Turner and so did Krunal Pandya by giving away only 17 runs in his 4 overs.

There were no problems whatsoever in India's bowling. The situation was completely opposite in the batting though, particularly the lower order.

Both Australia and India suffered identical collapses on a sluggish wicket but the Australian lower-order clearly had better firepower. In India’s last three overs there were at least seven occasions when MS Dhoni refused to take a single, clearly showing his lack of faith on Yuzvendra Chahal, who undoubtedly was batting a place if not two higher than his usual batting number and so was Umesh Yadav.

India scored only 46 runs in the last 10 overs with Dhoni scoring a sluggish 29 off 37 balls. 

Barring Rahul, who scored his fifth T20I half-century, there was not much to talk about the top order either. Virat Kohli’s worry about picking up bad habits during IPL came true almost a month before the tournament as six of India’s recognized batsmen got out playing inexplicable shots. 

From a comfortable 80 for two in 9.5 overs, India lost four wickets for 20 runs by the 15th over to be reduced to 100 for six.

The best partnership was 55 for the second wicket between Rahul and skipper Virat Kohli (24, 17 balls).

Looking in his element, Kohli didn't get the required elevation as he stepped out to leg-spinner Adam Zampa only to find Nathan Coulter-Nile at long-on.

In the very next over, Rishabh Pant misjudged a single and Jason Behrendorff dived to his left and released the ball quickly for keeper Peter Handscomb to effect a run-out.

The Indian innings was all about Rahul's flair as he repeatedly played the inside out lofted shot off pacers and the only six was a down the ground hit off Adam Zampa.

Rahul, however, could not convert his start and got out immediately after reaching his fifty in an over where Coulter-Nile (3/26) also breached Dinesh Karthik's defence with an off-cutter.

At the start of the innings, Behrendorff dismissed Rohit (5) as early as in the third over with the Indian vice-captain trying the lap shot but only to give Zampa a simple catch at fine leg.

But things started to go in India's favour from the next over with Rahul and then Kohli scoring a flurry of boundaries.