India beat Australia by six wickets in Hyderabad, not only winning the match, but also the series in the process. It was a fine response to losing the first match and also their recent disappointment in the Asia Cup, and it will hopefully inspire confidence as the preparations for next month’s World Cup continue to gather pace.
In particular, they will be pleased by the form of some of their batters, even though there continue to be some concerns over their bowling.
Match recap
India won the toss in Hyderabad and decided to field first, and, although Cameron Green, in his makeshift role as opener, impressed again with another half century. The Australian innings was kept in check by the regular fall of wickets, with Axar Patel again prominent. He would finish with figures of 3-33, and was also responsible for the run out of Australian dangerman, Glenn Maxwell.
Late momentum for the Aussie innings was provided by Tim David, playing just his third T20I for his country, who made 54 off 27 balls, including 4 sixes, but 186/7 seemed achievable, provided India batted well.
They started badly, losing KL Rahul in the first over, and then their captain Rohit Sharma. But Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav came together and grabbed the match by the scruff of the neck with a third wicket partnership of 104 in ten overs.
Yadav was particularly effective, making 69 off only 27 balls, including 5 sixes, and, after his departure, Kohli and Hardik Pandya guided the team to the brink of victory, before Kohli fell for 63 in the final over.
He had more than done his job, however, as India won by six wickets with a ball to spare.
Key talking points from the match
Yadav proves his worth
For all the changes that India have made to their team, Suryakumar Yadav is a constant batting at number four, and yet again he proved his worth with a performance that deservedly earned him the Player of the Match award. If he can maintain his form In Australia next month, then India will have a chance.
Another milestone for Kohli
Virat Kohli with his innings of 63, became only the second man after Sachin Tendulkar, to have made more than 16,000 runs in white ball cricket, and now has 16,004 in total. He has scored 12,344 in 262 ODIs and 3660 in T20Is.
His tally includes 43 centuries and 64 fifties in ODIs, and one century (against Afghanistan in the Asia Cup earlier this month) and now 33 half centuries in the T20I format.
Kohli still has some way to go to match Tendulkar, who only played in one T20I in his career. He finished with 18,436 international runs to his name.
Bowling concerns
Despite another good performance from Axar Patel, there are concerns over the rest of the Indian bowling line-up. The return of Jasprit Bumrah after injury was welcomed in the second T2OI because of the control he usually exerts, but he was expensive in Hyderabad, conceding 50 runs from his four overs and was wicketless.
Meanwhile, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was restored to the side, but once again, was put under pressure in the death overs, and conceded 21 to David in the 18th over of this match, continuing a recent worrying trend.
Meanwhile, Harshal Patel struggled throughout the series, taking just one wicket and conceding 99 runs in the 8 overs he bowled. His captain Rohit Sharma has defended him, arguing that he will learn from his mistakes and that he has been rusty after coming back from injury.
Nevertheless, India need all their bowlers to be firing on all cylinders and cannot afford any weak links.
Australia will not be too downhearted
Although Australia may have lost the series, they will not be too downhearted because they pushed the home side close in conditions that did not necessarily suit their strengths.
They did not send a full-strength side to India, but the form of Green, pressed into emergency service as an opener, has been a plus point, whilst David, a surprise addition to their World Cup squad, will have been glad to get some runs under his belt.
They will still believe that their status as World Cup favourites is justified, especially because the harder, faster pitches of Australia will be much more to the liking of their fast bowlers.
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