India clinch series as Kohli and Surya reign supreme

A crackling series that witnessed the T20 World champions being pitted against the current aces in the shortest format of the game, received a befitting denouement as Team India chased down a monumental total to emerge as the series winners after a high-octane run-fest at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in front of a packed house on Sunday.

As the series decider loomed large and Rohit’s unblemished record as a captain in T20Is in bilateral series dangled in the balance, India won a crucial toss and opted to field first. Still pinning their hopes on a bowling unit that has been battered too frequently in the ongoing series, India charged at the visitors with very minimal success in the first few overs.

Cameron Green produced an early onslaught while Aaron Finch grabbed the best seat in the house to the destruction at the non-striker’s end. It took India a while to figure out the basic infringements and it came in the form of the Australian captain as Axar Patel, India’s man-in-form with the cherry, drew first blood.

India finally managed to get the better of a rampant Green as Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s technique of hitting the cherry just wide of the line bore fruits with the Australian opener slashing at it as wildly as he could.

The fall of Green opened the floodgates for Team India as they started swarming in through it, battering down the Australian resistance as the visitors struggled to breathe. From 62 for 1, Australia crumbled down to 117 for 6 as India seemed comfortably placed in the driver’s seat.

However, the joys of the hosts were transient as an incoming Daniel Sams partnered perfectly with a marauding Tim David to condemn India to the hellish dimensions of the field as the former RCB all-rounder unleashed an unprecedented menace, snatching away the momentum from the Men in Blue to pile up a staggering 186 for Australia on the board.

Chasing a momentous 187, India suffered a couple of early pitfalls as KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma couldn’t leave much of an impact with a mountain left for Virat and Suryakumar Yadav to climb. Despite the fall of the two openers, neither Kohli nor Surya made any attempt to hold back their punches and laid down the markers for a grander scheme of things.

Kohli would occasionally whip those exquisite strokes while Surya led the battery from the front. He would bare down his variegated arsenal to mete out justice to his name of the 360-batter. The Mumbai Indians batter tottered a crucial knock of 69 from just 36 deliveries that would stay witness to 5 fours and 5 sixes while also stitching a 104-runs stand for the third wicket alongside Kohli.

By the time Australia would get hold of Surya, Kohli was already shuffling his gears, a move that would also allow Hardik Pandya to settle in before India tiptoed their way to the gates of another remarkable conquest. With 11 needed off the final over, Kohli knocked off 6 from the arrears on the very opening ball as he launched Daniel Sams over the long-on fielder emphatically.

Despite getting out off the next ball, Hardik Pandya’s situational awareness sealed the game for the Men in Blue as he glided the Australian quick through the gap between the keeper and a fine short third man to acquire the winning runs with a ball to spare.

It was an insane contest that saw Team India putting up a brilliant display to secure a historic triumph that continued Rohit Sharma’s winning streak as a captain in bilateral T20Is to another glistening chapter, also hinting at the fact that the Indian batting is all set to take the world head-on.