Ind vs Aus, 1st T20I: Jadeja's cameo takes visitors to 161/7
Dec 04, 2020
Canberra [Australia], December 4 : A business end master-class from Ravindra Jadeja powered India to a defendable 161/7 in their 20 overs in the opening T20I against Australia here at Manuka Oval on Friday. Jadeja himself finished with an unbeaten 44 off just 23 balls.
Off the 34 runs that came in the last two overs, 33 were scored by the bowling all-rounder as he tore into the Australian bowling in the last two. Anything in the arc went into the stands as he finished with a strike-rate of 191.30.
The 19th over saw Jadeja smash 23 runs that included three boundaries and a six. Having lost the way in the middle overs thanks to some consistent bowling from the hosts, it required Jadeja to show the way as he sent the Australian bowlers on a leather hunt.
Earlier, after electing to bowl first, Australia got immediate reward as Mitchell Starc sent Shikhar Dhawan (1) packing in the third over. The bad start went worse when a few overs later, Mitchell Swepson got the prized wicket of skipper Virat Kohli (9).
Sanju Samson then joined opening batsman KL Rahul and the duo started rebuilding the innings after India finished the powerplay overs on 42 with 8 wickets in the bag. Samson whacked a six off the fifth ball he faced to up the ante while Rahul continued his cautious knock and brought up his 12th half-century in T20Is.
At the halfway mark, India's score read 75/2 and just when things started to look good, Samson hit one straight to the cover as Moises Henriques picked his first wicket of the day. The wicket of Samson triggered a middle-order collapse as India lost Manish Pandey and Rahul in quick succession as the Men in Blue slipped from 86/2 to 92/5.
India reached the 100-run mark in 15.3 overs with Hardik Pandya and Jadeja at the crease. However, in order to accelerate in the last four overs, Pandya departed after blasting Henriques for a six. Jadeja though kept looking for the boundaries and ensured that the visitors ended on a high.
Brief Scores: India 161/7 [KL Rahul 51, Ravindra Jadeja 44*; Moises Henriques 3-22] vs India
