Match Details
Earlier in the day, 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 for India and were a bit watchful in the first couple of overs. 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 a loud 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 was reintroduced into the attack in the 12th over and he was able to dismiss KL Rahul who was well set on 55 of just 35 balls.
Suryakumar Yadav contributed with an excellent 46 of just 25 but the star in the batting for India was Hardik Pandya. He 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 and Finch made his intentions clear, he 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. The fielding was below par, they dropped 3 catches at crucial junctures of the game which cost them a lot.
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 and raised the hopes of the Indian team!
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!!