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The final international assignment before the World Cup started today for the Men in Blue as they tried out a few experiments with their combinations. Shikhar Dhawan was rested and KL Rahul replaced him whereas Mayank Markande made his international debut in place of Kuldeep Yadav.
Australian captain, Aaron Finch won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first. The home team got off to a bad start as they lost Rohit early. Kohli and Rahul tried to build the innings and just when the partnership was nicely set up, the Indian captain got out to a leg spinner yet again.
After that, no one stepped up, as India kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Rahul got out after a well played half century. Former Indian captain MS Dhoni was left with the tail, and had an off day as he managed to connect only one ball to hit a six. India reached a moderate 126/7 in the 20 overs with MS scoring an unbeaten 29 from 37 balls.
Chasing a small target, Australia threw out a surprise, as Marcus Stoinis came out to open the innings along with Darcy Short. However, the experiment didn't work for the visitors as he got run out for just one run. The Australian team then received another big blow as the Australian captain got out for a golden duck on the very next ball.
Determined, Short and an aggressive Maxwell bailed them out of a disastrous start. Maxi got out for a well made 56. Once Maxwell was dismissed, India strangled Australia with a brilliant death bowling. Bumrah took two consecutive wickets in the 19th over that left Australia to make 14 runs in the last over.
However, Umesh Yadav failed to defend the total as the Australian tailenders won the game for the visitors and took a 1-0 lead in the two match T20I series
Here is what the players had to say in the post-match interview:
Virat Kohli: In the first innings, we were not up to scratch. With the bowling effort we were pleased. Bumrah did exceptionally well to get us in the game. And Mayank did well in the middle overs as well. We want to give game time to Rahul and Pant. 150 would have been a winning score. Australia deserved to win as they played better than us.
Aaron Finch: I think on that wicket, it got lower and slower. The run-outs did not help but great to get the win. We were able to get some reverse and were bowling into the wicket. These guys are getting more and more experienced. Nathan is a wicket-taker. He has been very consistent in the IPL as well.
Nathan Coulter-Nile (MoM): I thought the boys bowled really well and we scraped home. We worked out quickly that the ball was not coming on to the bat. We have been playing a bit of cricket in the BBL. Really good to have a win and hopefully we will have another one and win the series.
Now let us take a look at how the world reacted on this thriller of a contest on twitter:
Ayaz Memon:
Harsha Bhogle:
Gaurav Kalra:
Bharath Seervi:
Aakash Chopra:
Umang Pabari:
Sanjay Manjrekar:
Vikrant Gupta:
Sumanth Raman:
Subramani Badrinath:
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