Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 90 and a strong performance from India’s spinners helped India take a 1-0 lead over Australia in the three-match T20 series. After being asked to bat, Kohli and Suresh Raina added 134 for the second wicket to help India post 188.
In response, Australia got off to the perfect start as David Warner and Aaron Finch got them off to a flyer. But just when the game looked to be getting away from India, India’s spin twins of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja strangled the life out of the run chase.
Hardik Pandya, who was making his debut, conceded 19 runs off his first over, making it the most expensive first over bowled by a bowler making his T20I debut for a full-member, but came back strongly and got rid of the dangerous Chris Lynn, courtesy of a brilliant catch by Yuvraj Singh.
Australian captain takes the blame, admits poor fielding cost them dear
Aaron Finch said: “We let ourselves in the field today. And a great innings from Virat. He is hard to stop when he gets going. We executed well with the ball, but let ourselves down with the fielding. 170 would have been a nice score. When we got our chance to bat, I slowed down a bit and cost ourselves a bit of momentum."
Virat Kohli, who was awarded the Man of the Match, said: "I could take this stadium with me wherever I bat. Just trying to keep things simple. I believe that in T20 as well. This stadium is right up there with anywhere in the world. I would love to thank the fans for coming out and supporting us.”
Indian captain MS Dhoni was full of praise for the bowlers.
He said: "It was a good game. Good to see our bowlers making the batsmen play the big shot. Rohit started well, followed by Virat and well supported by Raina. He and Yuvi have had just one net session, which is why I promoted myself ahead of Yuvraj.
“We bowled superbly after that. I felt once Pandya went through that first over he would bowl much better. He was executing the yorker well, he was bowling the wide ball well.”
Former India’s women's’ team captain Anjum Chopra:
Aakash Chopra:
Irfan Pathan, who was unlucky to miss out on the T20 squad, had this to say:
Tom Moody on Australia's problems:
India's bowlers who won them the game also earned plenty fo praise:
Aakash Chopra:
Harsha Bhogle:
Virat Kohli, who continued his impressive form, earned plenty of plaudits for his highest T20I score.
There was plenty of praise for Shane Watson from current and former players:
David Hussey has some suggestions for Australia's World T20 squad:
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