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The Sydney Cricket Ground has never failed to provide quality entertainment. This time again, it was nothing less, as India looked on with a hope to tie the Aus-Ind T20I series - after they lost the first match at Brisbane and then had to look on as rain played enough villainy to abandon the second one at Melbourne.
Thankfully for the visitors and all their supporters, the series ended on a high note, with India effecting a dominant win over Australia, by 6 wickets. They had a target of 165 runs in 20 overs, and they crossed the finish line with two balls remaining, captain Kohli, himself scoring the winning runs.
Batting first, Australia enjoyed a wicketless batting powerplay, managing one short of 50 runs right there. Their fate changed once the spinners were brought into play - Kuldeep ensnaring Finch first, followed by Krunal Pandya striking in regular intervals. The duo picked five of the six wickets that fell, Pandya accounting for four of those all by himself. Eventually, the hosts ended at 164/6.
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In reply, Rohit and Dhawan had a cracker of a powerplay between themselves as well, but both of them then fell almost together. Kohli and Rahul who replaced them, went on to stitch another stand where the former was more attacking. Rahul and Pant who followed then fell at the turn of India's 100-run mark, but Dinesh Karthik and the captain saw the side home.
Brief scores: Australia 164/6 in 20 overs (Short 33, Finch 28, Carey 27, Stoinis 25*, Krunal 4/36, Kuldeep 1/19) lost to India 168/4 in 19.4 overs (Kohli 61*, Dhawan 41, Rohit 23, Karthik 22*, Zampa 1/22, Maxwell 1/25) by 6 wickets.
Krunal Pandya, Man of the match
Feels great to contribute to a win. Was preparing myself after that first game where I went for runs. All the wickets were my favourites because I wasn't getting any wickets and they were hammering me in the first game. The best part of our team is that they back each and every player.
Shikhar Dhawan, Man of the series
Guess they love me a lot and I'll make them cheer more. Tremendous to see Indian support. I'm sure they'll support us for the Tests too. It was fun. As a batsman, when you score it always feels good. It's good that we were able to draw this series.
Aaron Finch, Australia captain:
They batted extremely well in the powerplay. Always tough to bring it back from 1/67. If we had few more runs, would've had a chance. The way that we fought was brilliant. Rohit and Dhawan are totally different styles of batsmen which is tough for bowlers. That's why they've been a great opening combination. We had a plan, just didn't execute in the middle overs with the bat. Still fair bit of work to do but we're going in the right direction which is nice. Feeling good for the Tests. Obviously a totally different format. Will get down to Brisbane and prepare for 5-6 days.
Virat Kohli, India captain
Things become pretty easy when those two (Shikhar and Rohit) guys do the job for us. We thought the wicket slowed down with the old ball. That's how T20 cricket goes. You lose momentum, you gain it. DK did really well at the end. Maxi and Zampa both bowled well, especially Maxi who has a gut feel of the batsmen. Overall, skill-wise, we were better on the day than Australia. When our openers get into the zone they're difficult to stop. I come in at three and attempt to take us home. With the ball, we were more professional today. I thought it was a 180 wicket. Weather is uncontrollable. These are things you have to accept as a sportsman. A level series is a fair reflection of how the teams have played. Tonight also the fans were really loud and motivated us to the win.
Now, for the highlight moments from the Twitterverse:
Michael Vaughan
Irfan Pathan
Aakash Chopra
Harbhajan Singh
Ayaz Memom
Rajneesh Gupta
Boria Majumdar
Bharath Seervi
Jatin Sapru
Mohandas Menon
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