Hardik Pandya finished it off in style as he heaved one over long-on off Daniel Sams to win, not only the game but also the T20I series for India, giving the team a much-needed boost before the start of the real ‘Test’.
The pair of Pandya and Shreyas Iyer, who added 46 precious runs in just 21 balls turned out to be the game-changer for the team, apart from some unusual, but effective batting from Virat Kohli (Yes, he hit a scoop, sitting on one knee, Yeah Kohli did that!) Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul too played important knocks of 52 and 30 respectively.
Earlier in the day at SCG, Australia posted a challenging total after being called on to bat first on the flat Sydney track. With the help of stand-in captain Matthew Wade’s 58 off 32 and Smith’s 46 off 38, the Kangaroos reached 194 in their 20 overs. The bowling of T. Natarajan was of particular importance, as he gave away just 20 runs in his quota of four overs, and that included two important wickets of D’Arcy Short and Moises Henriques.
Indian captain Kohli was happy with the win and lauded the teammates for standing up to the occasion and pulling a series back after the disappointing loss in the 50 overs format.
“[It] meant a great deal. We've played as a team in T20 cricket,” Kohli said during the post-match presentation ceremony.
“The fact that we don't have Rohit and Bumrah, our established white-ball players, in and still doing well makes me happy,” the skipper added underlining how important the victory has been even in the absence of the modern-day greats of the Indian team.
Saying that the young players are utilising the opportunities given to them, Kohli pointed out how playing at least 14 games in the recently concluded IPL helped the team fare well in the shortest format.
“We just kept them down to a total which we thought was quite chase-able with the short boundary. It's contributions from the whole team that make you feel better because young players are taking their opportunities,” he said.
Feeling as if he was in awe of Hardik Pandya, the responsible guy, Kohli praised the Baroda born, saying that he is now the most bankable player going down the line 4-5 years.
“Hardik coming into the team in 2016 was pure ability. He has raw talent. And now he realizes that this is his time, the next 4-5 years, to be that bankable player that can win you games from anywhere. His plans are right and I'm glad to see that,” he said.
Talking about the scoop he said, “There was indeed an AB shot! I told Hardik, Tye wasn’t expecting it and he said he didn't either. I'll text AB tonight, see what he thinks of it.”
Wade, the stand-in captain for Aaron Finch was humorous in his approach to the post-match presentation, saying that it was fun being a captain until Pandya came in.
Feeling that they were a bit short on the target, Wade said, “I think we might have been a little short - not a lot, but then it doesn't matter when Hardik is in [this sort of form].”
Wade believed that the players did quite well in the game. His only complaint was of miss execution at certain places.
“All in all, we played some good cricket, we just miss-executed in some places and that was it. Was great to see Sweppo and Zamps. These guys have played a lot of T20. Unfortunately, we couldn't execute in the end,” he said.
Mostly the experts were full of praise for the kind of patience that Pandya showed to reach the total and take the game as close as possible before finally finishing it. There were obvious talks of Chahal failing today with the ball and how it is going to be a gala time in the Indian dressing room considering that Ravindra Jadeja, Shreyas Iyer, and Bumrah have their birthdays today.
Rohan Gavaskar, former India, and Bengal cricketer, impressed by Hardik's ability to change the cause of any game said that he should get out of that mode of 'just a finisher' and explore his batting a bit more.
Sachin Tendulkar too lauded the Indian team for showing composure and class by winning two different games in two different ways, showcasing its range and depth as a World Class unit.
Freddie Wilde, known for his numbers speciality was at it his best as he decoded how Daniel Sams and Andrew Tye are going to be the perfect fodder for Pandya to feast on in the last two overs. He said that both the bowlers depend on slower deliveries and Pandya too likes the slow balls to utilise his long levers.
Harsha Bhogle, the world-known cricket commentator and expert too was in awe of the 27-year-old Pandya saying that he has to be amongst the most feared of the finishers worldwide.
It is becoming like a ritual to have a Gaurav Kalra witty tweet in our segment. And that shall be carried on. However, there awaits another surprise at the end as this segment today has an even funnier end courtesy of the legend of witty tweets Wasim Jaffer.
Jaffer, the legendary first-class cricketer has off late become a Twitter sensation with his tweets and one in this game also caught everyone's eyes as he retweeted a Michael Vaughan tweet in which he had predicted that Australia would win the series.
The third and final game of the series as well as of the limited-overs leg of this tour would be played on the 8th of December in Sydney before moving on to Adelaide for the exciting Test series.
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