Pandya clobbers India to victory
SERIES WIN: TAKE A BLUNTED AUSSIE ATTACK APART
Hardik Pandya smashed two huge sixes in the final over to give India a dramatic six-wicket Twenty20 victory over Australia yesterday, sewing up the threematch series for the tourists with a game to spare.
Chasing 195 for victory, India needed 14 runs from the last over and Pandya delivered with two runs off the first ball and sixes off the second and fourth deliveries, the latter flying deep into the stands at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Australia’s bowling att ack, making do without Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, had kept the contest tight. But debutant Daniel Sams was unable to contain Pandya, who finished with 42 runs off 22 balls and was named Man-of-theMatch.
“It’s fantastic,” said Pandya. “I just wanted to finish it early, I don’t like it when it goes down to the wire.”
The victory brought delight to a crowd, mostly supporting the tourists and, after Friday’s 11-run victory in Canberra, secured the series ahead of tomorrow’s third and final match in Sydney.
Openers Shikhar Dhawan (52) and KL Rahul (30) had given the tourists a strong start, and when skipper Virat Kohli took up the mantle, it looked like India might reach their target with some ease.
Kohli looked in great shape as he stroked the ball around the ground, but his innings ended on 40 after he chased a high, wide delivery and was caught behind to give Sams a first international wicket.
Earlier, with Aaron Finch ruled out by a hip injury, Matthew Wade was named Australia’s 11th Twenty20 captain, and he led from the
front with a typically aggressive 32-ball 58.
Opening with D’Arcy Short, the wicketkeeper-batsman smashed 10 fours and a six to lay a decent platform for Australia’s innings before being run out in farcical circumstances, caught ball-watching as Kohli dropped him at cover, but collected the
ball and hurled it in to Rahul at the stumps.
Steve Smith, whose leadership credentials have been ignored since completing his ban for the Newlands ball-tampering scandal, went on to make a solid 46 before he was caught by a juggling Pandya on the boundary, before the innings stalled. –