After a shaky start to their T20I series against Australia, where they lost the first game, India came back strongly in the second T20I and win the rain curtailed game to level the series. In the third match, India again triumphed the visitors and registered an important series win ahead of the T20 World Cup 2022 next month.
After putting Australia to bat first, the visitors put up a healthy 186 on the board courtesy half centuries from Cameron Green and Tim David. In reply India got off to a shaky start after losing both openers KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma with just 30 runs on the board within the first four overs. However, after that, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav put on a 104 run partnership for the fourth wicket, which laid the foundation to their win by six wickets. While Suryakumar Yadav top scored with 69 from 36 balls, Virat Kohli too scored a half-century with 63 runs from 48 balls.
While Yadav was the aggressor in the partnership, Virat Kohli played the supporting role. In a conversation with Harsha Bhogle after the game on Star Sports, Kohli spoke about he approached the run chase with Suryakumar Yadav going bonkers at the other end.
“When Surya started hitting it like that, I kind of looked at the dugout as well and Rohit (Sharma) and Rahul (Dravid) both told me, ‘you can just keep batting on’ because Surya (Suryakumar) was striking it that well. It was just about building a partnership. I just used my experience a little bit, stayed back and as soon as he went away I tried to take on the first couple of balls and got a six off Pat Cummins and that set me up again,” he said.
India won the series 2-1 , and will now head to on to face South Africa in another three-match T20I series beginning on September 28.
