Team India ace the chase; clinch the T20 series in a run-fest at the SCG

Team India notched up their 9th consecutive T20 win, and with it clinched the series with a clinical run-chase at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The run-fest needed a perfect-timed chase, and India got just that. 

Chasing a big target of 195 is never easy, regardless of how deep a batting lineup is. And India needed every bit of their batting might to come good. After the openers in KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan had given the team the kind of kickstart it needed, the game was set up for the rest of the lineup. Virat Kohli anchored the chase with an innings timed as precisely as his cover drives. 

With Captain Kohli going strong, Team India never let the required rate go out of hand. Shikhar Dhawan brought up his half-century off just 34 balls, and with wickets in hand, India looked very much the favorites. With 100 runs still needed, India needed a bit of impetus in the middle overs and got just that from Sanju Samson who looked like a million bucks even if only for a brief while. Virat Kohli took off from where Samson left, a pull shot for 4, an astounding scoop for 6 a-la-ABD, bringing up 18 runs off the 15th over, and the required rate down to less than 11 off the last 5.

But, the main event of the evening was undoubtedly Hardik Pandya. The game was well within reach, but Virat’s dismissal had tilted the balance slightly in the favour of the Aussies. With 23 needed off 9, and Pandya struggling to middle his big shots, the Aussies would’ve fancied their chances. But, a change of bat brought with it a change in fortunes. Two boundaries off the next two and the runs needed were down to 14 off the last over. For a batsman like Hardik Pandya, that’s just 2 big hits off 6. And he did just that. Two similar blows over long-on, off the 2nd and 4th ball of the over, took India over the line.

Earlier in the evening, the Aussies lead by Matthew Wade who had taken up the role of Aaron Finch, both as the captain, and as an opener, played a blinding 32-ball 58. Contributions all around from Steve Smith, Maxwell, Henriques, and a couple of lusty blows at the death by Marcus Stoinis had taken the Australian score to 194/5. For India, T Natarajan was the standout performer with the ball. A spell of 2/20 from 4 overs, on a day when 369 runs were scored of the remaining 36 overs, was worth its weight in gold.

With the win, Team India extended their unbeaten streak in T20s away from home to 10 games, the last defeat coming way back in February 2019 at the hands of New Zealand. Astonishingly, Captain Kohli’s men have also not lost a single T20 series since August 2019.