When Australia won the first two ODIs against India and wrapped up the three match series, they were many Aussie and Indian cricket fans who thought this was going to be a one sided series with India not showing up to the party.
The Indians fought back in the third ODI to gain both respect and confidence and finish the ODI series with a 2-1 scoreline. Australia went into the three match T20 series as the betting favorites and were surprised in the first T20 after India won and took a 1-0 lead.
Australia went into the second T20 at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday night knowing they had to win to the keep the series alive. The Aussies had their work cut out as they were missing their captain Aaron Finch and a number of their T20 specialists including David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins.
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The selectors decided to give Matthew Wade a chance to captain the side instead of Steve Smith with surprised a lot of Aussie fans. Wade (58) opened the batting and did well at the top of the order. Smith (46) held the innings together and allowed the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Moises Henriques to play the big shots. Australia ended up getting to 194 in their 20 overs and were in a commanding position.
India needed a good start from their top three batsmen and they got it. KL Rahul (30), Shikhar Dhawan (52) and captain Virat Kohli (40) gave the innings the momentum it needed to always keep India in the race to win. The match was in the balance going into the 16th over and the Aussies got ahead when they dismissed V Kohli.
Hardik Pandya who has been a thorn in the Australian side all series was promoted ahead of Shreyas Iyer due to his form and he took charge of the innings. Pandya and Iyer brought India close to victory and they needed 14 runs in the last over. The responsibility of bowling the last over was given to Daniel Sams who was playing his first T20 for Australia.
H Pandya showed how special he is by hoisting Sams for two big sixes to swing things India’s way. India went on to win by 6 wickets and with two balls to spare.
Australian fans are disappointed to see their side lose three games on the trot to India. Australia will look to win the third T20 on December 8 and wrestle the momentum away from India as there is an important four match test series to play.
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