India complete clinical chase in Bellerive Oval to restore parity in T20I series

Team India returned to winning ways against Australia as a calculated approach witnessed them shoot down a formidable total to level the T20I series in Hobart. After suffering a defeat in the second T20I, the Men in Blue were back to their best with the bat, hitting back at Australia at the Bellerive Oval.

Winning the toss, India opted to bowl first. A double whammy from Arshdeep Singh early on set the tone perfectly for the Men in Blue. He got rid of Travis Head (6) and Josh Inglis (1) early, reducing Australia to 14/2. However, the fall of the two early wickets didn’t bother Australia much as they found a messiah in Tim David.

David smashed 74 off just 38 balls, hammering eight fours and five sixes. Despite David’s rampage at one end, Mitch Marsh couldn’t get himself in the act and eventually succumbed for a 14-ball-11. India applied further pressure, removing Mitchell Owen for a golden as Varun Chakravarthy snuck one through his defences.

Wobbling at 73/4, if India believed that they might have an easy pass, the notion was devastated by a hard-hitting Marcus Stoinis who conjured a 39-ball-64 while Matt Short smashed an unbeaten 15-ball-26 to propel Australia to 186/6. Arshdeep Singh was the pick of the Indian lot with figures of 3/35.

India had their task cut out with the ghosts of the past heavy on their shoulders. Abhishek Sharma got off to a phenomenal start once again, carrying forth his red-hot form. His breezy 25 up front allowed India to gear up for the run-chase on the perfect note.

Unfortunately, Sharma’s blitz was transient as he was dismissed by a Nathan Ellis bumper, while Shubman Gill (15) couldn’t add much either. Much to the respite of the Indian fans, skipper Suryakumar Yadav got off to a bang and kept the scoreboard ticking.

However, India lost their third wicket in the form of SKY as they were reduced to 76/3 but the scoring rate remained close to 10, thereby allowing India to switch gears accordingly. Instead of some soaring individual brilliance, India relied on collective calibre to get the job done. Cameos from Axar Patel (17) and Tilak Varma (29) allowed India to sense the finishing line.

When Varma fell, India’s score was 145/5 from 14.2 and the remainder of the road was relatively simple, with the only complication of the recognized batters falling short. Washington Sundar was already out in the center and Jitesh Sharma made the most of the time he was given out in the middle.

The duo of Sundar (49*) and Sharma (22*) got India comfortably across the finish line, securing a win by five wickets. Arshdeep Singh won the Player of the Match award for his impeccable performance with the ball while India restored parity in the five-match series.