More than 82,000 fans packed the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a majority of them Indians, hoping to see Suryakumar Yadav’s men dominate their Australian counterparts in the second T20I on Friday.
But what followed wasn’t to their liking. Abhishek Sharma stood tall on a pitch offering plenty of bounce but he couldn’t prevent Australia from taking a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. The first match in Canberra had been abandoned because of rain.
India folded for 125 in 18.4 overs, with Abhishek putting up a dazzling effort — 68 off just 37 balls — while the rest of the batting faltered against Josh Hazlewood (3/13) & Co.
Mitchell Marsh (46 off 26 balls) led Australia’s charge in the chase as the hosts cruised home in 13.2 overs with four wickets in hand, handing India their second-biggest loss in T20Is in terms of balls to spare.
As Hazlewood wreaked havoc, India’s batters never got going, losing four wickets inside the Powerplay. Abhishek added 56 off 47 balls with Harshit Rana for the sixth wicket but that wasn’t enough to arrest the slide. It was too late as the damage had been done.
Hazlewood produced a venomous spell, bowling Test match lengths and making perfect use of the steep bounce and seam movement. After sending back Shubman Gill in the third over, the fast bowler removed Surya and Tilak Varma in the same over. It was the perfect rehearsal for Hazlewood, who will not be playing the remaining matches of the series, ahead of the Ashes beginning in Perth on November 21.
“The way he bowled in the Powerplay, if you’re four down in the Powerplay it’s difficult to recover from that,” Surya admitted later.
Nathan Ellis provided him superb support with an incisive spell which further dented India’s chances of making a comeback.
Abhishek, however, was in a different zone. He was never troubled by any of the bowlers and spared none of them. It was a calculated effort as he shouldered the responsibility of carrying the innings forward.
The left-handed opener took on Xavier Bartlett in the 18th over, smashing a boundary and a six, and retained the strike for the 19th. But his fine innings came to an end
when Ellis trapped him leg before. Varun Chakravarthy’s run-out soon after wrapped up India’s innings with eight balls left.
“Abhishek has been doing this for quite some time now. He knows his game and his identity and he is not changing it anymore and hopefully he sticks to it and plays many more knocks like this for us,” Surya said.
“I think we need to do what we did in the first game. Bat well when batting first and then come out and defend.”
Skipper Marsh and Travis Head saw off the threat of Jasprit Bumrah in the early overs and then exploded to set up a routine chase. Varun weaved his magic to bag 2/23 but got little support with the exception of two wickets in two balls from Bumrah when just two runs were needed to win.
