Josh Hazlewood rattled India with his opening spell and others chipped in as India battled multiple rain breaks to huff and puff their way to get to 136/9 in 31 overs. It was hard work for the Indian batters with KL Rahul and Axar Patel scoring 30s and fighting out there showing resistance. Australia will be happy and they are chasing a reduced score of 131 in 26 overs. It is Australia’s game to lose from here.
Australia rocks India by removing top 3 amidst the rain threat
Put into bat first, Rohit Sharma and captain Shubman Gill came out to bat for India while Mitchell Starc had ball in hand for Australia. Starc started with a quiet over. Josh Hazlewood took the new ball from the other end. Gill got the first boundary away for India as he pressed forward and drove it sweetly past mid-off for a boundary. Starc continued as Rohit pressed forward and drove it back past mid-off for a boundary. Hazlewood got the breakthrough for Australia as he removed Rohit for 8 off 14 balls with a boundary to his name.
Hazlewood bowled a hard length delivery angling in around off-stump pitched and straightened. Extra bounce from Hazlewood as Rohit hung back to defend as the ball kissed the shoulder of the blade and Renshaw took the catch at second slip. Virat Kohli came out to bat next. Starc bowled a maiden over to Kohli. Hazlewood continued as Gill hit him for a cracking drive through mid-off for a boundary. Starc removed Kohli for a duck.
Starc pitched it up from over the wicket around fifth stump swinging across the batter. Virat went searching for it. He leaned forward and opened the bat face and drove it uppishly to the left of diving Connolly at backward point who flew to his left and took a good catch. Shreyas Iyer came out to bat next. He got off the mark with a brace. Hazlewood bowled a good over.
Nathan Ellis came into the attack next and got rid of Indian captain Shubman Gill for 10 off 18 balls with 2 fours to his name. Ellis from over the wicket bowled a good length delivery down the leg side. Gill got a faint tickle through to the keeper. Phillippe moved to his left and took a good catch. Axar Patel came out to bat next. After 8.5 overs, we had the first interruption due to rain. Play resumed after a while with the game reduced to 49 overs a side now.
Hazlewood bowled the final over of powerplay and kept things under check as India finished their powerplay at 27/3 in 10 overs.
Australia chipped away at the wickets amidst multiple rain delays.
Starc continued after the powerplay and bowled a good over. Hazlewood continued and bowled 5 balls in the 12th over before rain returned to halt proceedings. After a long delay, play resumed with match reduced to 35 overs a side. Shreyas hit the first ball after resumption of play by rocking back and cutting it away past backward point for a boundary.
Mitchell Owen came onto the attack next and bowled a decent over. Hazlewood came to bowl his final over under revised playing conditions and he got rid of Iyer for 11 off 24 balls with one four to her name. Josh bowled a back of a length delivery at the body. Shreyas was deep in his crease and hopped to tuck it away behind square on the onside. The ball brushed the gloves as Phillippe took a good catch moving to his left. KL Rahul came out to bat next.
Ellis continued and bowled two balls and off we went for another rain break. Play resumed again and this time match was reduced to 32 overs a side. Ellis completed his ongoing over. Starc returned for another spell as the 50 came up for India in 15.4 overs. Starc bowled a miserly over. Ellis continued and bowled 4 balls in the 17th over when heavens opened up again and off we went for another considerable delay. Play resumed at 2 PM IST with the match reduced to 26 overs a side.
Ellis completed his over. Owen returned and Axar took the attack to him by hitting him for consecutive boundaries one over the keeper and the next by lofting it over mid-on. Ellis continued as Axar pulled hard in front of square by rolling his wrists for a boundary to get it between midwicket and mid-on. Rahul then got into the act as he hit back-to-back boundaries over mid-on and over long-on for a boundary.
Spin was introduced into the attack now as Matthew Kuhnemann came into the attack. He bowled a decent over and got rid of Axar Patel for 31 off 38 balls with 3 fours to his name. Kuhnemann bowled a half-volley on the off-stump line. Axar on the front foot got underneath it and swung down the ground. He didn’t quite get enough bat on it and lofted it deliberately but lofted it to Renshaw at long-on. Washington Sundar came out to bat next as India were 84/5 in 20 overs.
Late flourish amidst the fall of wickets takes India to 136/9 in 26 overs.
Matthew Short came into the attack next as Rahul took him on by hitting him for back-to-back sixes over the bowler’s head. The 100 came up for India in 21 overs. Kuhnemann continued and bowled a miserly over. Nathan Ellis returned to the bowling crease. Sundar got into the attack as he shuffled into the off-side and went for the hook as he played the Surya trademark Supla shot and got the elevation over the keeper’s head.
Kuhnemann removed Sundar next for 10 off 10 balls with a boundary to his name. He bowled a good length delivery on the leg stump line turning back in. Sundar was down on one knee shuffling in the leg side to play a reverse sweep. He played a bit early misjudging the length and got a glove through deflecting the ball back on the stumps. Nitish Kumar Reddy on debut walked out to bat next and got off the mark.
Owen continued and got rid of set batter KL Rahul for 38 off 31 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes to his name. Owen bowled an overpitched delivery on the off-stump line. Rahul cleared the front leg and took it on lofting down the ground. It was in the air and straight into the hands of Renshaw at long-on. Harshit Rana came out to bat next and got off the mark straightaway. Reddy was dropped at long-on by Renshaw. Owen then removed Rana for 1 off 2 balls.
Owen banged it in short around the off-stump line. Rana cleared the front leg to pull and swung hard for the hills and got a top edge that went straight up in the air without any distance. Philippe ran in from this position and gloved it easily. Arshdeep Singh came out to bat next.
Kuhnemann came out to bat next. Arshdeep was run out without facing a ball as Reddy wanted to retain strike. One run was completed. Mohammad Siraj came out to bat next. Reddy was on strike as he launched Kuhnemann for the maximum over deep midwicket region by slog sweeping the bowler.
Siraj survived a run out scare as the final ball of the innings was dispatched by Reddy for the maximum as he got on the front foot and drilled a lofted on drive down the ground over long-on for the maximum. Reddy finished with an unbeaten 19 off 11 balls with 2 sixes to his name. Siraj remained unbeaten on 0. 8 extras given by Australia as India finished with 136/9 in 26 overs.
It was a good bowling display by the Aussie bowlers. Josh Hazlewood was the pick of them finishing with 2/20 in 7 overs. Mitchell Owen on debut finished with 2/20 in 3 overs. Matthew Kuhnemann finished with 2/26 in 4 overs. Mitchell Starc finished with 1/22 in 6 overs. Nathan Ellis finished with 1/29 in 5 overs. Matthew Short’s only over went for 17 runs. The target for Australia will be 131 runs in 26 overs as the DLS score was adjusted with wickets lost.
Who’s Winning, Australia or India
Despite the late flourish from India, it has been all Australia as they will be happy keeping India down to 136/9 in 26 overs in a reduced game. Their target has been reduced to 131 runs in 26 overs. They will fancy getting there against a decent bowling line-up. India needs to take early wickets to make a match out of this. At this stage, it is advantage Australia.
Let’s see how this chase unfolds from here.
Also Read: AUS vs IND: Stern Challenge Awaits For Shubman Gill