AUSTRALIA WIN, LEVEL T20 SERIES 11
THE SERIES DECIDER WILL BE PLAYED IN HYDERABAD ON FRIDAY
GUWAHATI : Losing is a reality in sport. And that hit India hard on Tuesday as the Virat Kohli-led side slumped to an eight-wicket loss to Australia in the second T20I here.
It was Australia’s first win in a T20I against India after seven consecutive losses, and one man who responds to the name of Jason Behrendorff became the unlikely architect of the turnaround.
The left-arm pacer, playing his debut international series, took four wickets for 21 to dismiss India at 118. Moises Henriques (62*) and Travis Head (48*) then shared a 100-plus stand to finish the job in chase with more than four overs left. Behrendorff show The start was ominous for India as they lost Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli in a space of three balls in the first over. And the architect of the collapse was Behrendorff. He trapped the former in front of the wicket with an in-swinger and then caught and bowled the Indian captain.
Both Indians seemed out of place with the pace and movement that the left-arm pacer was generated. The demolition drive from Behrendorff was far from complete as he got an edge off Manish Pandey in the third over as India were reduced to 16/3 inside three overs.
The collapse continued as David Warner took a stunning catch off Behrendorff to send Shikhar Dhawan back into the pavilion. India were reduced to 27/4 and crowd turned silent.
With the top-order back in the pavilion, the stage was set for MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav to make an impact. They tried to stem the rot with a patient stay at the crease for five-odd overs and kept the run-rate at six per over. However, before India could dream big both fell to the leg-spin of Adam Zampa. Their 33-run stand remained the highest partnership that India could manage.
Much has been said about the finishing ability of Hardik Pandya. He attempted to guide the tail and take India to a respectable total. His first few overs were filled with singles and two as first Bhuvneshwar Kumar and then Kuldeep Yadav tried to play the perfect ally at the other end.
They took India past 100 in the 17th over but again a rude shock came just when a decent resistance started to take shape. Pandya tried to launch himself against Marcus Stoinis and was caught by substitute fielder Dan Christian. India were 102 for eight at that point. Jasprit Bumrah and Yadav added 16 more runs as India finished on 118.