Going 1-0 up: All-round performance puts India ahead

Tourists beat Australia by 37 runs in opening T20I

ADELAIDE: India drew first blood in the three-match T20I series when they beat Australia by 37 runs at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.

After Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat on both countries’ national day, the Indians smashed their way to 188-3 thanks to a brilliant 90 not out from Virat Kohli.

The Australians started their run chase full of purpose, at one stage scoring at 11 runs an over. But once they lost David Warner (17), Aaron Finch (44) and Steve Smith (21) they never looked like chasing down the total.



Indian spinners Ravi Ashwin (2-28) and Ravindra Jadeja (2-21) proved the difference between the two teams as the Australian batsmen struggled to keep up the pace.

After the impressive paceman Jasprit Bumrah had Warner caught at mid-on, Smith and Finch scored freely until Jadeja had Smith caught at mid-off by Kohli.

Ashwin then trapped Finch leg before and when Jadeja dismissed newcomer Travis Head the same way in the next over, Australia were 93-4.

Shane Watson (12) and Chris Lynn (17) both fell trying to lift the scoring rate and the remaining batsmen put up little resistance.



“I think it was a good game,” said Indian captain MS Dhoni. “We batted really well, we got those extra runs and also the bowling was good.

On the other hand, Finch said the Australians had no one but themselves to blame. “We let ourselves down in the field and obviously an unbelievable innings by Virat — he’s hard to stop when he gets going,” said Finch.

“At the end of the day we have eight genuine batsmen and we back ourselves to chase, but it just wasn’t to be.”



Earlier, Kohli smashed his 90 runs from just 55 balls, hitting nine fours and two sixes.

“Everything came together nicely and it was good to get that win under the belt,” said Kohli.

He was given good support from recalled batsman Suresh Raina (41), with the pair putting on 134 for the third wicket. 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 27^th, 2016.

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