New Delhi: On a night when the administrators and groundsman at the Vidarbha Cricket Association were maligned for failing to keep dry a Nagpur outfield that hadn’t seen rain all Friday, the 2nd T20I between India and Australia played out more like a glorified Hong Kong Cricket Sixes or a T10 encounter.
But India ultimately chased down Australia’s score of 90 by 6 wickets, with 4 balls to spare, and leveled the series at 1-1, with the decider due to be played in Hyderabad Sunday.
The delays caused by a wet outfield from Thursday’s rain reduced the match to an 8-over affair in which batsmen reigned supreme and attempted many a high-risk reward shots as there was no time to get settled first or play an anchor role. As a result, there were many wicket taking opportunities on offer for those who adapted the quickest to the altered match conditions.
ThePrint takes a look at some key talking points.
Captains Finch and Rohit find form under pressure
There are few players under pressure in the shortest format, from their countries’ respective cricket media and fanbases, than the leaders themselves. Aaron Finch has been under the scanner for his rapidly declining form and glaring technical flaws, while Rohit Sharma has been criticised for inconsistency, as well as for his on-field tactical choices and bowling plans. But both men made as good a use of their available bowlers as the circumstances dictated, and let their bat do the talking. They showed the right amount of intent from ball one, but due to a world-class yorker by the returning Jasprit Bumrah, Finch was outshined by Rohit in the end.
Wade nearly steals the show again
If Rohit hadn’t raced to 46 off 20 balls and stayed until the end, the big batting story would have been Matthew Wade again. The Tasmania-born wicketkeeper and finisher took four balls to get going against Axar Patel but destroyed the figures of the entire Indian pace attack. In doing so, Wade showed exceptional offside game, scoring 4 fours and a 6 on the off side, perfectly figuring out Harshal Patel’s plans in particular. Australia missed a trick by not selecting the similarly aggressive Josh Inglis to bat at 5, alongside Wade.
Axar’s arm balls and accuracy cause Aussie collapse
The biggest difference between the two sides was the ever-consistent Axar who stopped the rest of the Australian top order while Finch had gotten off to a flier at the other end. The Delhi Capitals left arm spinner not only acted quickly to run Cameron Green out when he attempted a cheeky single, but removed dangermen Glenn Maxwell and Tim David with simple but effective arm balls. Continued superlative performances in India’s remaining bilateral matches would make Axar an automatic pick at the World Cup next month.
Adam Zampa deceives Indian top order in full flight
By contrast, nearly every Australian bowler had a night to forget except for the experienced wrist-spinner Adam Zampa, who has been largely ignored in IPL auctions due to there being Indian counterparts to his skillset. Zampa was expensive in Mohali but successfully made KL Rahul, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav look foolish by slowing things down, bowling it fuller and tempting them into unnecessarily risky shot selections. However, he was let down by his fast bowler teammates as all India had to do in the end was wait for Zampa’s 2-over quota to end.
Also read: India have a strong team, should win the World Cup: Kaif