After a series of losses and humiliations, Australia thumped the men in blue on Wednesday in the first T20I at Gabba. Not only they performed astonishingly with the bat, but they also snatched victory from India's jaw while defending a 174-run target. Especially, Marcus Stoinins who put hands up for the pivotal role — firstly scored33 off 19 balls and then defend 13 runs in the final over of the match, leaving Virat Kohli and Co helpless as they ultimately lost the game by 4 runs.
After the match, Stoinis stated that they have endured heavy defeats of late but the lean run did not diminish the team's belief that it remains a good side.
“We have got good memories in the team. We dominated T20s last year. We were in good form not so long ago. Obviously, things have not gone our way but we know we are still a good side,” said Stoinis.
In the absence of the suspended Steve Smith and David Warner, Australia recently lost to South Africa and England in the limited overs format. Hosts England had blanked Australia 5-0 in the ODI series before the team from Down Under lost the ODIs and one-off T20 at home to South Africa.
Talking about his batting effort, Stoinis said, “It was good fun. They showed faith in me at number five. We were focussed on a building a partnership and we got that.”
On the bowling front, he added, "In this particular game there were longer boundaries. Also, wind the conditions were tricky. We were trying to bowl yorkers but they ended up being beamers. So it is something we are working on."
The second T20 of the three-match series will be played in Melbourne on Friday.