The flamboyant Australian all-rounder, Glenn Maxwell scored 43-ball 56, which helped Australia to go over the finishing line o beat India by three wickets in the first T20I on Sunday to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series.
Put in to bat, with five overs to go, India was at 100/6 and it was all on MS Dhoni (29 not out) to stage a grandstand finish. But the slowness of the pitch barred him from playing his shots as he only managed to hit one six in the final over, refusing to take a single on several occasions with Yuzvendra Chahal (0) at the other end. As a result, India managed only 46 runs in the last 10 overs.
Dhoni’s strike rate, particularly in this match has been debated a lot of extra runs might have come handy or might have possibly made a difference in the final outcome of the game. Also, adding some fuel to the fire was Dhoni’s 29 not out off 36 deliveries knock as Australia, set to make 127 for victory, scored 2 runs off the last delivery.
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Meanwhile, the star performer in the match – Maxwell, had some words of support for the former India skipper.
Justifying Dhoni’s innings, Maxwell said, “It [farming the strike] was probably fair enough with the way the wicket was – being difficult to score for any batter, let alone a guy who is not known for his power-hitting in Chahal. MS is obviously a world-class finisher and even he was finding it hard to hit the middle of the bat.
Glenn further added, “So, I think it was right of him to try and farm the strike. He hit a six in the last over and I think that’s the sign – he hit one six and they only got seven of the over. Shows you how difficult it is. If you hold MS to one boundary in the last few overs, it’s a pretty big effort.”
Brief scores:
Australia – 127/7 (Glenn Maxwell 56; Jasprit Bumrah 3/16) defeated India – 126/7 (KL Rahul 50, MS Dhoni 29*; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3/26) by three wickets.
