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Cricket PlayersIndia vs Australia: Virat Kohli revs up chase, India fall short
India vs Australia, 3rd T20I: Visitors lose by 12 runs in final game despite skipper’s third fifty across white-ball formats, win T20 series 2-1
By the end of the Australian innings that saw the hosts set a 187-run target in the third T20I in Sydney, Shardul Thakur’s figures read 43/1 in four overs – the most expensive among the five Indian bowlers. The seamer can argue the numbers only revealed half the story.
Twice Thakur was denied Glenn Maxwell’s wicket due to sloppy catching. Deepak Chahar dropped him on 38 and Yuzvendra Chahal gave him a second life on 53, both easy chances. The let-offs were among India’s many poor efforts on the field, and combined with Matthew Wade’s career-best 80 off 53 balls, they helped Australia post a 185-plus total for the second game in a row.
India vs Australia 3rd T20I - Live
The hosts didn’t take time to return the favour when Steve Smith dropped a sitter at deep midwicket from Virat Kohli—he was batting on nine—off Maxwell’s bowling. That drop nearly cost Australia the match as the India skipper went on to make 85 off 61 balls. He though ran out of partners as India lost by 12 runs, their first T20I defeat in 10 matches this year. They had to be satisfied with a 2-1 series scoreline.
Despite the result, Kohli, playing his penultimate match on this tour, made a statement going into the Test series starting in Adelaide on December 17. By his own admission, a good chase brings the best of him and it was on show at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday.
Till the time Kohli was at the crease, India’s expensive bowling and poor fielding didn’t seem to matter.
Kohli holds fort
Kohli came to bat in the first over after KL Rahul picked out Smith at deep mid-wicket, off Maxwell. Two overs later, it was almost at the same spot where Smith reprieved his biggest rival to the tag of the greatest batsman of the generation.
Kohli grabbed the chance with both hands. It’s unthinkable that Kohli has not scored a century in 2020 across formats, though he has the pink-ball Test left to make amends. The way he paced his innings promised to end the drought in India’s last T20 of the year.
He took on the role of aggressor early on while Shikhar Dhawan remained subdued during the time he was at the crease. Kohli was let off for the second time, by Andrew Tye off his own bowling in the fifth over. Two balls later, he replied with a cut to the third man boundary.
The most impressive aspect of Kohli’s innings was how dismissive he was while despatching the Australian quicks. When boundaries dried up, Australian spinners Adam Zampa and Mitchell Swepson took control. The bundle of energy Kohli is on the field ensured that the run-rate did not dip below 7.5 with his sharp running on view. From the seventh to the 12th over, he did not score a boundary and still reached his half-century in 41 balls.
With Shreyas Iyer and Sanju Samson falling in the 13th over, and the required rate almost touching 12.5, Kohli changed gears. He took on Sean Abbott in the 14th over and then went after Daniel Sams with two sixes, one of them going over fine leg.
With Hardik Pandya (20-13b) for company, Kohli brought down the equation to 43 runs off 18 balls before the former was out, edging Zampa to Aaron Finch. The pressure was on Kohli as he took the equation to 36 off 12 balls. A diving catch by Sams at deep backward point off Tye on the first ball of the penultimate over put paid to Kohli’s hopes for a series sweep. Shardul Thakur delivered some late blows, but it was not enough.
Wade maintained his form and ensured Australia posted a big total after being asked to bat first. All the bowlers went over eight per over as Wade and Maxwell (54-36b) shared a 90-run stand off 53 balls for the third wicket, a partnership that was in equal measure muscle and innovation. Wade, who was also involved in a 65-run partnership with Steve Smith, could have gone on 50 in the 11th over if India had sought DRS on time after a leg before appeal was turned down off T Natarajan. The ball-tracker showed he was plumb in front of the wicket, but India had gone 15 seconds beyond the limit when they decided to review. It cost the visitors dear.
“I think the middle overs, while we were batting, was the phase that cost (the match). If we had one partnership of 25-30 that means Hardik comes in when we need less than 60, not 80 plus. This series win is a nice little asterisk for us finishing the limited-overs leg of 2020 on a high,” Kohli said after the match, acknowledging the finishing prowess of the Player-of-the-Series.
