Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s brilliant guidance helped India to win the third and final T20I of the series at Sydney on Sunday and drew the series by 1-1 result. While Australia scored 164/6 in 20 overs, India reached the target in 19.4 overs after losing four wickets (168/4).
Australian skipper Aaron Finch decided to bat first after winning the toss. The Aussie openers provided a solid start as D’Arcy Short and the skipper Aaron Finch had a 68-run partnership for that wicket.
However, after that partnership was broken, the Australian team lost their wickets at regular intervals. Finch was caught out at short fine leg on 28 off 23 balls (4 fours) while Short followed him quickly after scoring 33 off 29 balls (5 fours).
Australia’s last match batting hero Ben McDermott scored a golden duck while Glenn Maxwell failed to utilise after he came up the batting order at no.3 but managed to score only 13 runs. The wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey played an important knock of 27 runs off 19 balls. Chris Lynn was sent to bat at down the order at no.6 but he was brilliantly run-out by Bumrah at the crucial situation.
From 131/6 in 17.2 overs, Australia finished the innings on 164/6 (20 overs), thanks to the unbroken 33-run partnership for the seventh wicket between Marcus Stoinis and Nathan Coulter-Nile. Stoinis played a 25-run knock 15 balls (3 fours) while Coulter-Nile managed to score 13 off 7 balls (2 fours).
Among the Indian bowlers, only the two left-arm spinners Krunal Pandya and Kuldeep Yadav were able to pick up the wickets in that innings. Krunal was the best bowler in that innings by picking up four wickets with the bowling figure of 4-0-36-4. Also, the chinaman Kuldeep claimed the first wicket of the innings (Finch’s dismissal) and ended with the bowling figure of 4-0-19-1.
Also watch: Krunal Pandya Takes Two In Two
In reply, India started very well as the openers Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan provided an attacking 67-run partnership for the first wicket. But after that partnership was broken, the next batsmen struggled against the Aussie bowlers in the middle overs. Dhawan scored 41 off 22 balls (6 fours and 2 sixes) while Rohit played 23 runs knock off 16 balls (only four and 2 sixes).
Also watch: Rohit And Dhawan Puts Australian bowlers On Remand
Soon after those openers’ dismissals, KL Rahul (14 off 20 balls) and Rishabh Pant (0) returned to the pavilion in disappointing fashions. In that stage, India was struggling on 108/4. However, the skipper Virat Kohli rescued the team from that stage with the help of a brilliant unbroken 60-run partnership with Dinesh Karthik for the fifth wicket and secured the series-saving victory. Kohli was not out on 61 off 41 balls (4 fours and 2 sixes) while Karthik remained unbeaten on 22 off 18 balls (only four and only six) as India reached the target in 19.4 overs after losing four wickets.
Among the Aussie bowlers, Mitchell Starc (1/26), Adam Zampa (1/22), Glenn Maxwell (1/25) and Andrew Tye (1/32) all picked up one wicket each.
While the series finished with the 1-1 scoreline, Krunal Pandya won the Player of the Match award while Shikhar Dhawan won the Player of the Series award.
Here are some Twitter reactions:
Superb innings from @SDhawan25 at the top and @imVkohli remains unbeaten in a run-chase, and when that happens India invariably wins. Congratulations India on the win today #AUSvIND
— VVS Laxman (@VVSLaxman281) November 25, 2018
Wonderful innings from Kohli, great at finishing the job and a good win for India. Some of the batters though will be disappointed at not making use of the opportunities. #AusvInd
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) November 25, 2018
Well done @imVkohli and team india for winning the 3rd T20 against australia to level the series well done @krunalpandya24 with the ball..
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) November 25, 2018
Well done team India on levelling the t20 series. King @imVkohli at it yet again and sheraa @SDhawan25 really good inning #AUSvsIND
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) November 25, 2018
You get the feeling @imVkohli is going to be the difference between the 2 teams over the new few weeks ….. #AusvInd
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) November 25, 2018
Virat Kohli has remained Not Out 14 times when chasing in T20Is and India won the match every time. #IndvAus
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) November 25, 2018
The cheer for Virat Kohli as he walked out to bat, was one of the most incredible sounds I’ve heard at a cricket match. #AusvInd #cricket
— Jo Taylor (@heavehojo) November 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/brainfadesmith/status/1066652006486425600
Are we seriously seeing #RishabhPant as a successor of #Dhoni? Failing like this consistently means his chances of selecting in #WorldCup 2019 is bleak. Same case with #KLRahul. Both of them are flops in this t20. What’s your take ? @Ateet_Sharma @vikrantgupta73 @rawatrahul9
— Kiran Lukram 🇮🇳 (@lukram93) November 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/brainfadesmith/status/1066653771055357952
https://twitter.com/SivanthiR/status/1066654064811753477
The most underrated player of Indian cricket team DK #AUSvIND .Whenever India needs him, definitely he plays the better role. @DineshKarthik Superb Knock.
— கரிகால சோழன் 💯 (@karikalan1412) November 25, 2018
Michael Clarke : Australian batsmen should watch and learn from Kohli.#AUSvIND
— Manya (@CSKian716) November 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/DarnMySecret12/status/1066662867053744128
#RishabhPant really needs to comeback in form along with some "maturity"!! Otherwise, a great talent will get unutilized!!@cricketaakash #AUSvIND #INDvAUS
— Sagar (@SK171999) November 25, 2018
Finally we have got our second option for Wicketkeeper Batsman after MS Dhoni.
Its "#DineshKarthik"
& Not a "#RishabhPant"#AUSvIND— Bharat Parmar (@BharatParmarr) November 25, 2018
It is really sad how KL is being played regularly over Manish and Shreyas. @BCCI #KLRahul
— Anjanikumar Lohia (@AnjanikumarLoh1) November 25, 2018
#KLRahul be patience with him, he is in learning process, soon he will start performing may be after 10-15 years…#Kohli #ravishastri give him more 100-200 matches please,
🌟 player making
— Sarang Sambare (@SarangS21) November 25, 2018
People compared KL Rahul with Kohli, then. Now, they are thrashing KL. We have a pathetic fan base. The next match he scores, people are going to say he is next Kohli. Either overrating or underrating. #AUSvIND #klrahul #Viratkohli
— Levī (@levi_ackrman45) November 25, 2018
@BCCI One more failure from #KLRahul. 14 runs of 20 balls. Please have some sense and drop him. Others waiting and the wings are also talented and will be more consistent than him I'm sure. #AUSvIND #TeamIndia #AskTheExperts
— Raj Kumar Garg (@rajoo111) November 25, 2018
