ALL DOWN TO KOHLI COOL
VIRAT Kohli turned the Sydney Cricket Ground into New Delhi last night as the Indian master fired an ominous warning at Australia ahead of the Test series.
Australia was desperate to take some momentum and confidence into the Tests after a sketchy white ball summer, but in the end it was King Kohli who exploded with a matchwinning 61 not out off 41 balls in the final T20 at a sold-out SCG painted royal blue.
Adam Zampa and Glenn Maxwell had tightened the screws with the ball to set up a thrilling finish as Australia tried to defend 6/164, before the most feared batsman in the world, Kohli, destroyed Andrew Tye in the 16th and 20th overs to seize India a dominant six-wicket win.
Cheers of “Kohli, Kohli” rang out throughout his innings and when he smashed the third last ball of the match for four to seal the deal, he raised both arms triumphantly as he sprinted down the wicket to an eruption in the stands.
Australia last night found out exactly what it’s up against this summer as a record 37,339 crowd of mostly Indian diehards marched like an army from Central Station to Moore Park.
Australia bombed a chance to win its first ever T20 series against India as the campaign ended 1-1 following a washout in Melbourne, and now the Blue Tide is Rising as belief rises in camp Kohli that the Indians can win a Test summer Down Under for the first time.
Shikhar Dhawan (41 off 22) and Rohit Sharma (23 off 16) set the tone at the top of the order, and after a stumble through the middle overs, Kohli iced the match like he so often does.
CATCH 22 FOR STOINIS
Australian X-factor Marcus Stoinis has proven a game-breaker with the ball this summer, but the all-round Adonis was left looking for somewhere to hide last night when he took the ball for the fifth over.
Stoinis was pummelled for 22 runs before the hook came out from captain Aaron Finch.
The first ball was a dot, but then Rohit Sharma jumped on him with a front-foot pull for six over long-on, before turning the strike over for fellow destroyer Shikhar Dhawan to take over.
Dhawan had a look at a wide before exploding with six, four, four to finish the pain.
CALM CAREY
Alex Carey might have only made 27, but the wicketkeeper stood out among his teammates for his poise.
The rest of the Australian batting order lacks any sense of flow and are snatching at big shots too often. But Carey has a method which the others don’t have and Justin Langer must promote more batsmen like him if Australia is to challenge for next year’s 50-over World Cup.
ZAMPA PROVIDES ZIP
The Australians looked dead ducks after the opening onslaught from Dhawan and Sharma put 67 runs on the board in under six overs, but cunning spinner Adam Zampa clawed them back into the contest.
The white ball specialist leg-spinner’s five-ball take-down of Sharma was a brilliant exhibition of T20 bowling.
Zampa bowled four consecutive dot balls and had Sharma slip over twice, before he beat him all ends up with a quick, skiddish delivery that took an edge on to pad and into his stumps. It stopped India’s rampant momentum and Zampa refused to take the brakes off as he went for just 22 off his four overs.
Zampa’s class in the match was bettered only by mesmeric Indian spinner Krunal Pandya, who tore through Australia’s top order with 4/36.