Abhishek Sharma’s valiant fight goes in vain as Indian batters stumble against Australia at the MCG
After the Rain Gods halted India’s juggernaut in the series opener, it was some superlative bowling from the Aussies that saw the visitors stumble in Melbourne. An ordinary display with the bat left the Men in Blue with a lot to desire for in the remaining three T20Is, if they are to keep things afloat in the series
Winning the toss, Australia opted to bowl first. Their fast-bowling trio of Josh Hazlewood, Xavier Bartlett and Nathan Ellis started proceedings on a high as India found themselves in some serious trouble early on. Abhishek Sharma was absolutely brilliant at one end but didn’t find any support at the other.
Shubman Gill (2), Sanju Samson (2), Suryakumar Yadav (1), Tilak Varma (0) and Axar Patel (7) were back to the pavilion in no time, leaving India wobbling in uncharted territories. Abhishek Sharma, however, had no intentions of drifting away from his natural game as he kept on clobbering the Aussie bowlers without any relent.
It was eventually with Harshit Rana that Abhishek did find some solidity as India started believing again. Rana (35) provided stability at one end while Abhishek’s tempestuous show of 68 from just 37 balls, saw the duo adding 56 runs for the sixth wicket.
However, once Rana fell, India were once again down in the dumps and there was no coming back this time. India’s tail could hardly offer any resistance while Shivam Dube (4), despite getting a boundary on the very first ball, fell victim to Xavier Bartlett in the following delivery.
Sharma was the penultimate wicket to fall as India got bundled out for 125 with eight balls to spare. Josh Hazlewood led the charge for the Aussies, registering figures of 3/13 from his allotment of four overs.
The opening partnership itself laid the foundation for Australia to shoot down the required numbers. Mitchell Marsh (46) and Travis Head (28) were firing on all cylinders and added 51 runs for the opening stand within just 27 balls. Varun Chakravarthy eventually provided the breakthrough but it was a tad bit too late.
Another solid stand between Marsh and Josh Inglish (20) saw India being pegged back ruthlessly. By the time Kuldeep Yadav could get the better of Marsh, the damage was irreparable. India did chime in with a few quick wickets, reducing Australia from 87/1 to 124/6 but the number of runs on the board weren’t enough.
Bumrah and Varun Chakravarthy were instrumental, plundering four wickets between them but Australia managed to seal a four-wicket win to go 1-0 up in the five-match T20I series. India play Australia again on Sunday, a clash which will be held at the Bellerive Oval.
