Rain, after a batting wobble
Langer’s fighting words
RAIN forced Australia’s second T20 against India to be called off without the tourists batting.
Australia made 7-132 from 19 overs before the players were forced from the MCG.
Play looked like resuming several times, but the rain kept returning and eventually the match was called off.
Australia take a 1-0 lead into the final game of the three-match series tomorrow at the SCG.
Originally, India needed 137 from 19 overs under the DLS method and it looked like play would resume.
But the driving rain that made most of yesterday miserable in Melbourne then returned and would not abate.
Gold Coast’s Ben McDermott top-scored with 32 not out and Andrew Tye made an unbeaten 16.
The cold and wet conditions matched the home side’s fortunes for much of their innings, with Billy Stanlake ruled out when he rolled an ankle during the warmup. Then Australia lost the toss and they steadily lost wickets before some lateorder resistance.
The conditions were so dismal that Dinesh Karthik wore a beanie in the field.
Nathan Coulter-Nile took Stanlake’s place and that was the only change to the two line-ups, after Australia won the opening match of the three-game series earlier this week in Brisbane.
The Gabba match also featured a rain delay.
Australia’s four-run win
broke their four-game T20 losing streak.
Despite the wintry weather throughout most of yesterday, the match started on time and it attracted a boisterous pro-India crowd of about 60,000.
The home side made a disastrous start when Aaron Finch tried to drive a wide delivery from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and was caught behind for a golden duck on the second ball of the innings.
The Australian T20 captain has made just 96 runs from his past 10 international innings.
No top order batsman made it past 20 and when local favourite Glenn Maxwell was bowled for 19, Australia were in dire straits at 5-62.
Coulter-Nile, coming in at No.8, belted two sixes in his quickfire 20 as the Australians staged a rearguard action.
Australia were still struggling at 7-103 after 17 overs, but Khaleel Ahmed then bled 19 runs, including two fours and a six, in his last over.
Kumar claimed two wickets and Jasprit Bumrah took 1-20 from his four overs. JUSTIN Langer has sounded off at South African skipper Faf du Plessis’ suggestion that his Australian side has become tame in the wake of the sport’s various off-field issues.
The Proteas took a 2-1 series win in this month’s short one-day international series, returning home to reflect on a changed Australia.
Du Plessis felt Australia’s players were “genuinely hurt” by the ball-tampering scandal.
Langer took umbrage at the notion his side was weakened.
“I’m not sure where the ‘tame’ came from,” Langer said. “We played really well in the second game. We batted poorly in the first game. In the third game we played brilliantly for the first 35 overs.
“If you saw Marcus Stoinis’s reaction in Adelaide I wouldn’t say that was tame.”