India defeated the hosts Australia by six wickets and took an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match T20 series. Needing 14 runs off the last over of Daniel Sams, Pandya deposited two belligerent strokes over the leg-side boundary to avenge the series loss in the ODIs. Pandya finished with 42 not out off 22 balls and was aptly supported by Iyer who stepped up after the fall of Virat Kohli with timely boundaries while the required rate was breaching the manageable mark.
Chasing a big total of 192 runs on what looked like another flat pitch at the SCG, the Indian openers were off to a very slow start with Australian pacers surprising them with a bit of help in the air. Both Sean Abbott and Danel Sams did not allow Rahul and Dhawan to run away with the game as the visitors could have only 9 runs off the first two overs.
Australian skipper Matthew Wade was reluctant to give Indian bowlers to set their eyes on a particular bowler as four new bowlers were tried in the first four overs. Andre Tye was brought in to bowl in the third over and after troubled Rahul on the first two deliveries with seam-up deliveries, which are so unusual for his style of bowling but was guilty of overstepping on the second delivery.
Indians got the license to go for the big one and Rahul made full use of the long half-volley that Tye put on a platter for him on the free-hit ball. A lofted extra cover drive ended up in the stands with a 90-metre six. Tye ended up conceding 15 runs in that over and India were up and running with the required rate.
Wade did not disown his one-over spell tactic as Glenn Maxwell was brought in to check the left-handed Dhawan but the opener was up to the task as he deposited the off-spinner deep over midwicket boundary and followed it up with a four to plunder him for 19 runs.
Rahul and Dhawan were up and going at the rate of knots as Sean Abbott too was put to the sword and the duo took 13 runs off him that made 47 runs from the three overs after the economical first couple of overs.
Wade brought back Tye and the pacer followed his tried and tested formula for years of bowling slower balls and caught Rahul early in his attempt to clear the offside boundary. He was taken at the deep-point boundary and it led to stopping of the rampage that the openers had brought on the Australian bowlers.
The leg-spinning duo of Mitchell Swepson and Adam Zampa tried to choke the runs and Shikhar Dhawan went back to the pavilion in the quest of forcing the issue as the required run rate was always going up, but not before he completed his 11th fifty in the international T20 off 34 balls.
Samson was trusted again to bat at the number four and he showed promise as he showed his repertoire of shots on both sides of the wicket against Daniel Sams, hitting him for a four behind point on the off side and following that up with a gigantic six with a pull shot off the front foot when Sams tried to test his backfoot game. However, he once again threw it away but the surging required rate did not give him any chance but to keep running at the bowlers and Zampa was smart enough to preempt his big shot. He bowled into the pitch and it bounced more than Samson expected and he could hit it only to Steve Smith standing deep at the long-off boundary.
Virat Kohli took his time when Dhawan and Samson were going for runs but as Pandya was promoted to the number five position based on his good showing the ODI series and first T20, Kohli started pulling tricks out of his boxes as he took Tye for 18 runs in the 15th over with the help of an uncharacteristic ramp shot over the fine leg boundary for six and a couple of boundaries, one via an outside edge while another came through a thumping pull shot that perfect bisected the two fielders deep on the boundary.
Once again Tye provided India with the momentum which they needed to chase such a big total but Adam Zampa denied the pair of Pandya and Kohli any hittable lengths to get underneath. However, the duo was smart as they made sure to take eight runs off Zampa to make it 46 required off the last four overs.
Daniel Sams returned to price out the big scalp of Kohli on the very first ball of the 11th over with a slower short bouncer that kept on going away from the Indian skipper and his counterpart standing behind the stumps flung to send him packing at a crucial juncture of the match.
Next man in, Shreyas Iyer, who got into the playing XI in place of Manish Pandey who had an ‘elbow niggle’, could not have walked in to bat at a more crucial point than that as the visitors needed a total of 37 runs from the last three overs.
Iyer has a reputation of being a big-hitter against spinners and he made sure to do no harm to that reputation smoking a big six off Zampa over the midwicket boundary that later turned out to be 111 metres and the biggest six hit in the series until then.
Tye was again called in to do the hard work in the 19th over and he was successful in preventing Pandya from hitting any big shots on the first three balls but Pandya kept his cool and luck favoured him with an outside edge that flew over the top of short third man.
Pandya changed his bat midway in the Tye’s over as he found it tough to swing the knuckle balls even though he was delaying his shot. He was not to miss out on picking Tye’s knuckle balls after missing two in the early part of the over and with the new bat smashed the fifth ball to the extra cover boundary for a much-needed boundary. It was always a matter of time before Pandya could take the Australian bowlers to the cleaners and the new bat might just have provided him with the feel-good factor before going berserk and winning the game and the series for India.
All were at stake for the hosts as the debutant Sams was tasked to defend 13 runs in the last over against Pandya and Iyer and as it turned out the task was too difficult to achieve against the firepower of Pandya.
Earlier in the day, Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to chase at the SCG and his eyes must have been on the short boundary on one side of the wicket.
The stand-in captain Wade promoted himself at the top of the order with Aaron Finch missing due to injury and he put on a show right from the start. He was particularly severe of any short balls and the Indian new ball bowlers bowled plenty of them.
Kohli threw a bait on the left-handed openers, D’Arcy Short and the captain Wade to go across the line against Washington Sundar to the short boundary on the leg side. Wade took the bait and won the game within the game as Australia were off to a rollicking start at 23/0 off the first two overs. The carnage went on for the tourists as wade was not giving up his shots and was taking calculated risks.
Just when the hosts appeared to be running away with the game, Natarajan induced a false shot from Short and Iyer was sharp at the mid-wicket fence to snaffle the catch and India were relieved to see the separation of the opening pair.
India’s dismal performances in the field did not stop in this match as well as in the very next over of the fall of Short, Wade was dropped by Pandya who has dropped quite a few more than his reputation as a fielder would be able to digest.
Wade was severe on the off-spinner Sundar and took him for 31 runs off his three overs but a fair share of the blame for his bad figure would go to Kohli as well as he dropped Wade when he induced a leading edge off the left-hander’s bat. But, Kohli was aware of the happenings around him and was quick to throw the ball after dropping the catch for Rahul to whip off the bails before Wade could come back to the crease.
Glenn Maxwell started in his usual style and took no time to settle before he could unleash his blistering shots. He started with a big six off Chahal over the long-off boundary but Shardul Thakur got the better of him with balls away from his range on the off side.
Steve Smith looked frustrated in the middle as he could not get going against disciplined Indian bowlers. He was given a breather by Moises Henriques who once again promised big with the bat but perished in the process of going for big runs.
Out of all the bowlers in the Indian camp, Natarajan was the pick of the bowlers and went for only five runs per over and also took two big wickets of Short and Henriques, just when they were starting to look threatening for the visitors. Yuzvendra Chahal had a real off day in the field after a man of the match performance in the last game.
The series win in the T20 is the second consecutive series win in Australia for the Virat Kohli-led team in the shortest form of the game. After showing not so impressive run of form in the first two ODIs of the series, the men in blue have bounced back strongly and will go into the Test series with high confidence.
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