Australia have been struggling lately but they did find some form today at the Gabba by defeating India by 4 runs. It was the series opener and Australia needed that win very badly. India on the other hand were favourites but some errors in the field cost them the match. While India still looked in control for the most part of the match but in t20 cricket, just an over is required to turn things upside down.
Batting first, Australia started very slowly scoring at the run rate below 6 for the first 4 overs. Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept things very tight but were unable to pick up wickets. India picked up their first wicket in the form of Darcy Short who has been struggling a lot with his form. The run rate picked up suddenly with Chris Lynn at the crease along with his skipper Aaron Finch. Chris Lynn looked in supreme touch as he hit 4 sixes but misread a googly from Kuldeep Yadav giving him his first wicket not before making a quick fire 37 off 20.
Aaron Finch followed Lynn to the dug out soon, again misreading a googly from Kuldeep. But that brought Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis to the crease who made sure Australia had enough on the board before rain started pouring down at the end of 16 overs. Maxwell hit some lusty blows off Krunal Pandya and destroyed his figures by hitting him for 3 consecutive sixes. Marcus Stoinis also joined in the act and produced a good knock of 33 runs. Australia just played one over after the rain interval loosing the wicket of Glenn Maxwell and finished with 158 off 17 overs.
For India Bumrah and Bhuveneshwar were brilliant with the ball early in the innings. Kuldeep Yadav was their best bowler who picked up two wickets and gave away just 24 runs in his 4 overs. Khaleel was good ij his first over but Lynn took him on in his second over and scored plenty. Krunal Pandya was the most expensive bowler giving away 55 runs in his quota of 4 overs. India dropped two catches off Finch and Stoinis and these two drops proved very costly.
As this match was hit by rain, India were chasing a revised target of 174 runs, thanks to DL method. Shikhar Dhawan came and started tonking the bowlers all over the field while Rohit Sharma struggled a bit and eventually holed out to Finch off Behrendorff. K L Rahul and Virat Kohli couldn't do much either as both of them were outclassed by the legie, Adam Zampa. Shikhar Dhawan on the other hand continued on his merry way and scored 76 runs of just 42 balls. The run rate had however creeped up to 15 runs per over and Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik started making inroads. Both these players threatened to take the match away from Australia, especially Dinesh Karthik. He was very brutal moving around in the crease to fast bowlers and dispatching the balls over cow corner. India came so close but Marcus Stoinis held his nerve in the last over and dismissed Krunal Pandya and Dinesh Karthik of two consecutive slower balls to win Australia the match.
Adam Zampa was the pick of the bowlers for Australia as he picked up 2 wickets and gave away just 22 runs. He was well supported by Stoinis who helped Australia defend 13 runs in the last over and also picked up two important wickets, one among the two being Dinesh Karthik.
This win will give hosts a lot of confidence and India won't be taking this young Australian squad lightly. Second match of the series will be played on 23rd of this month.
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