“The Big Show” Glenn Maxwell delivered an innings to remember in his final match of this series scoring his 4th T20I century equaling Rohit Sharma for the most numbers of hundreds scored in the format. Earlier it was Ruturaj Gaikwad’s show as he scored an unbeaten century helping India post a mammoth total of 222.
The Aussie Captain Mathew Wade won the toss and opted to bowl without any hesitation. This was going to be the last match of this series for the players who were part of that WC-winning squad as Australia decided to rest them for the rest of the series. India began the match decently scoring fourteen off the first. But with the ball swinging in every direction Jason Behrendorff removed the player of the match from the previous encounter in his first over. The Aussies bowled tight lines and reduced India to 24-2 inside 3 overs.
Captain Surya and Gaikwad stitched a good partnership as India scored 81-2 from the first ten and looked set for another big score. Soon after the drinks SKY got out playing the ramp as Aaron Hardie got his first T20I wicket. Tilak Varma and Gaikwad then joined hands together and scored 141 runs with the latter upping the scoring tempo scoring his first international ton and belting every bowler for fun. The Australian captain surprisingly handed the ball to the off-spinner Maxwell in the final over and it turned out to be a disaster as Gaikwad scored 30 runs off that and helped India to post 222 on the board.
Chasing a steep total, the Australians were off to a flier with the openers Travis Head and Hardie scoring at a brisk rate. Head especially looked in great touch and was in great confidence with that Innings before 10 days in the final. The Indian pacers never looked good as they were taken apart by the Aussie batsmen. They erred with their line and lengths and got punished.
The spinners bowled well and got important breakthroughs to keep India in the hunt. Glenn Maxwell looked in ominous touch and didn’t let any bowler settle. He stitched useful partnerships with Stoinis and Wade. With 78 required from the last 5 Wade and Maxwell absolutely smashed the bowlers and took their team home.
It was disappointing to see India not looking to develop the All-rounders in the format. With the main bowlers going for plenty India should’ve looked to get some off the part-timers in the form of Tilak or Jaiswal. These are matches you use to try and improve them.
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