Skipper Suryakumar Yadav hammered a 42-ball 80 and Ishan Kishan blasted 58 off 39 balls as India scampered to a two-wicket victory against Australia in the opening T20I of the five-match series here on Thursday.
In his first match as India captain, Suryakumar put on display once again his ability to hit around 360 degrees after he elected to bowl first and Australia rode on a brilliant, blazing century by Josh Inglis off 47 balls and his 130-run partnership with Steve Smith as the visitors posted 208/3 in their 20 overs.
With Inglis and Smith compiling the highest partnership for the second wicket for Australia, improving on the 124-run partnership by David Warner and Michell Marsh, it looked like Australia were set to dominate India just like they did in the final of the Men’s ODI World Cup in Ahmedabad on Sunday.
India however survived some anxious moments before scampering to 209/8 in the final ball to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan blasted half-centuries after India lost Ruturaj Gaikwad for zero, run out off the fifth ball of the opening over and Yashasvi Jaiswal was out for a whirlwind 8-ball 21 as India mounted a record highest successful chase in a T20I in India. Both of them played some brilliant shots as they put India on course for victory.
But the Indians faced anxious moments in a dramatic final over as needing seven runs off the last six balls, Rinku Singh struck a boundary off the first ball and took one bye. But Axar Patel holed out off the next ball, going for the two runs needed to seal the victory and then saw Ravi Bishnoi and Arshdeep Singh, going for a second, run out off successive balls. Needing one run to win off the last ball, Sean Abbott bowled a no-ball, which was blasted out of the ground by Rinku, for a dramatic finish to the entertaining contest. Rinku remained unbeaten with a 14-ball 22.
Suryakumar had hammered nine fours and four sixes in his 42-ball 80 while Ishan Kishan blasted two fours and four maximums to put India on course for victory, using their experience of playing together for Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League.
Earlier, the Indian bowlers pulled things back for India in the final overs as Josh Inglis and Steve Smith put Australia in a superb position in the middle overs.
While Bishnoi and Prasidh Krishna claimed a wicket each for India, it was Mukesh Kumar and Axar Patel who applied the brakes on the rampaging Australian batters, as they gave away 61 runs in their eight overs.
Inglis (110) hammered the joint-fastest century in T20I for his country and added 130 runs for the second wicket partnership with Steven Smith (52)
Inglis slammed his century off 47 balls, hitting nine fours and eight sixes as he raced to 110 off 50 deliveries after Idnia skipper Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and elected to field first at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
Inglis, who is the fifth Australian batter to score a hundred in T20 Internationals, added 130 runs for the second wicket with Steve Smith, which is the highest stand for the second wicket for Australia in this format.
Inglis joined Smith in the middle after young spinner Ravi Bishnoi had sent Matthew Short (13) packing in the fifth over with Australia at 31/1. With Inglis gaving a masterclass in power-hitting, as he swung, slogged, heaved and hoicked the ball to all corners of the stadium as he blazed his way to his half-century in 29 balls.
In contrast, Smith came up with a patient knock, scoring his 52 off 41 balls, hitting eight fours in all.
They took the Australian score to 161 in the 16th over when Smith was out, attempting a quick run after playing the ball to short fine-leg and was caught well short of the crease at the bowler’s end by a good through by Prasidh Krishna to Mukesh Kumar.
But in the end, Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan and Rinku Singh ensured India successfully mounted the highest run chase in T20 Internationals,
India next take on Australia in the second T20I at Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday (Nov. 26).
Brief scores:
Australia 208/3 in 20 overs (Josh Inglis 110, Steve Smith 52; Ravi Bishnoi 1-54, Prasidh Krishna 1-50) lost to India 209/8 in 20 overs (Suryakumar Yadav 80, Ishan Kishan 58, Rinku Singh 22, Tanveer Sangha 2-42) by two wickets.
