Having lost the first match at the Gabba, India would have been keen to level the series at MCG but it was not be as rain spoiled the game and we only saw 19 overs being bowled in the Australian innings. With this match being called off, India's record of 7 consecutive t20 series winning record came to an end, a record which started last year after a shared series against the same opposition. India would have backed themselves to get a score of 136 in 19 overs and maybe that is why Australian players were seen smiling after the match was called off.
The Indian skipper, Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to field first, a plan which suits India the most. Australian openers made their way to the ground and their skipper, Aaron Finch nicked the first ball to Rishabh Pant off Bhuveneshwar Kumar playing a very loose drive to a ball which was far from the body. Instead of giving Jasprit Bumrah the second over, Kohli brought inexperienced Khaleel Ahmed probably because of his ability to generate a bit of swing away from the right handed Lynn. The move paid off as Lynn hit one straight down the throat of deep cover to a ball which was way outside off. It was really stupid on part of Lynn as Khaleel showed his intentions and wanted him to hit the ball to that fielder and he did.
The wicket of Lynn brought Glenn Maxwell, the hero of last match for Australia to the crease. D Arcy Short was batting at the other end and was cleaned up by Khaleel in his third over. D Arcy Short has scored nothing in the past few matches and I am not sure why he is still in the team. Perhaps it is time for Australia to find someone else, Short has had enough chances. Virat Kohli's strategy of bringing Khaleel Ahmed as the second bowler worked wonders for him.
The two saviours for Australia in the previous match joined hands after the fall of Short but Marcus Stoinis presented a dolly to deep point fielder of the bowling of Bumrah. He could have done much better than that. The ball was there to be hit, all he had to do was find the gap or keep it down. Maxwell was looking good at the crease until he was castled by a slow turning ball from Krunal Pandya. I like the way Krunal Pandya bowled in this match, knowing the boundaries were bigger, he slowed up his pace and bowled a bit fuller compared to the previous match.
The situation of Australia would have been worse had it not been for Ben McDermott and Coulter-Nile. Ben McDermott played cautiously and ensured he stood firm at one end while Coulter-Nile hit a couple of lusty blows to bring some life in the dead scoreboard. McDermott remained unbeaten while Coulter-Nile was out for 19 of just 11 balls.
All the Indian bowlers bowled really well, Khaleel did went for 18 runs of his last over but he did well prior to that, taking the wickets of Chris Lynn and D Arcy Short. Bhuveneshwar was their best bowler picking up 2 wickets for 20 runs. Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav took one wicket each.
Australia have been really struggling to pick Kuldeep Yadav in both the matches and it is hurting them badly. Chris Lynn was playing nicely before Kuldeep was introduced in the first match and here again he kept the batsmen quite and picking up a wicket of Carey. They will have to bring up some tactics while playing against him and make sure their openers get them a decent start. India on the other hand just needs a match without the interruption of rain.
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