Eventually, the Australian team found their mojo on their tour of India. On several occasions on this tour, they troubled the home side and pushed them into a corner, but couldn’t finish the job well and allowed them to wriggle out.
But in the first-ever T20 International played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati, the Australian team did something they had failed to do earlier. They won their first-ever bilateral T20 International in India and ended Team India’s 7-match winning streak against them.
After bowling out the home side for 118, the Australians slipped at the start of their run-chase, but recovered quickly and chased down the runs in 15.3 overs, winning by 8 wickets.
On a pitch which had a bit of moisture, the Australian captain called correctly at the toss and had no hesitation in giving his bowlers the first use of the conditions. India were away in style after Rohit Sharma collected two exquisitely timed boundaries off the first and third deliveries of the match respectively. But the bowler Jason Behrendorff had the final laugh when he trapped the opener plumb in front of the stumps in the fourth ball of the first over.
Behrendorff struck for a second time two balls later when he dismissed the Indian captain and handed Virat Kohli his first duck in T20 Internationals.
The tall left-arm pacer continued to inflict more damage on the home team. In his second over, he had Manish Pandey feathering one to the wicket-keeper. In his third over, he accounted for Shikhar Dhawan, who miscued one to be brilliantly caught by David Warner.
The Indian top four were back in the dressing room and they had only contributed a total of 16 runs between them. That aggregate – of 16 runs – was the lowest aggregate by an Indian top four in a T20 match.
When India were struggling at 27-4, Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni ensured there was no further damage until the powerplay was completed. India were 38-4 at the end of six overs; it was only the second occasion in T20I history that India had lost 4 wickets in the first six overs.
Australia stuttered at the start of their chase; the two most feared batsmen in their line-up – David Warner and Aaron Finch – were back in the dressing room within three overs. While Warner miscued a pull shot off Jasprit Bumrah, Finch bludgeoned one from Bhuvneshwar Kumar but couldn’t find the gap; both batsmen were caught by Virat Kohli at short cover – the first catch being Kohli’s 100th catch in Twenty20 cricket.
But the visitors quickly recovered through Travis Head and Moises Henriques, who stitched together an unbeaten 109-run partnership and took Australia over the line. The left-right partnership is Australia’s best-ever partnership in T20 Internationals in India.
Henriques, who batted at number three, finished unbeaten on 62, while Head remained unconquered on 48.
The three-match T20 series is now level at 1-1. The decider will be played at Hyderabad on Friday (13 October).
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