Australia win the 1st T20I by 4 wickets, they held their nerves in the end and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, dropped catches prove costly for team India.
Australia win the match by 4 wickets and 4 balls to spare. This was India’s highest score against Australia in T20I and the second-highest chase ever for Australia.
Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first on a hard and flat-looking surface.
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul walked out to open the batting.
Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins opened the bowling and extracted a lot of swing early on.
India lost Rohit Sharma in the third over on 11 of 9, he was dismissed by Hazlewood.
Virat Kohli walked out with oud welcome by the crowd, he played 7 balls and scored just 2 runs before hitting one straight to the mid-on fielder.
KL Rahul and SuryaKumar Yadav stitched a brilliant partnership and took India past the 100-run mark.
Hazlewood dismissed KL Rahul who was well set on 55 in the 12th over.
Surya Kumar Yadav contributed with an excellent 46 of just 25.
But the star in the batting for India was Hardik Pandya.
Hardik was in beast mode today, he was batting like a dream right from the get-go.
In spite of losing partners, he stuck to his strength and smashed the ball all around the park, finishing on an unbeaten 71 of just 30 balls.
It was a breathtaking knock by Hardik Pandya, he finished with 3 sixes of the last 3 balls and took India to a huge total of 208!!
At the halfway mark, Australia fancied their chances of chasing down this target with dew coming in.
Finch and Green walked out to open the batting, Finch made his intentions clear.
Aaron hit a six off the first ball and took Australia to a flyer.
Axar Patel was introduced into the attack and got the breakthrough straight away, dismissing Finch on 22 of 13.
The Indian bowlers had to be on the top of their game to defend this total which they weren’t.
Cameron Green and Steve Smith stitched a valuable partnership and took Australia past the 100-run mark.
The pair had almost taken the game away from India but Umesh Yadav took back-to-back wickets.
India pulled things back quite nicely, Australia needed 40 of the last 3 overs.
Wade played a blinder and took his team over the finish line with 4 balls still remaining.
The left-hand batter was ably helped by Tim David who hit some lusty blows.
Wade was simply brilliant and was helped by some poor bowling, fielding and dew!!
Drop catches have cost the Indian team dearly. The Indian fielding was below par, they dropped 3 catches at crucial junctures of the game which cost them a lot.
India vs Australia 2nd T20I
India will lock horns with Australia at Nagpur for the second T20I, Australia Lead the series 1-0, India will be looking to make a strong comeback in the Orange City of India and level up the series.
Deepak Chahar and Jaspreet Bumrah are expected to return to the side for the second T20I.
