Mirpur: This India vs Australia game is Team India’s final game of Super 10. Here is the cricket score.
Chasing 160 runs to win, Australian openers started cautiously scrong 12 runs in first 2 overs.
Finch got in the 4th over when Australia’s score was 13. Watson and White followed him to dug-out to make Australia’s score 21/3. Warner and Maxwell were involved in a 23-run partnership but Warner was caught well by Rohit Sharma running in from the deep.
Maxwell who is known for his big hitting abilities, struck two big sixes. But he was bowled by Ashwin when his innovation went wrong. Australia were 55/5 when Maxwell got out.
Skipper Bailey too fell victim to India’s spin power when he lobbed one to Kohli in the deep on Jadeja’s bowling.
12 runs later, Haddin departed to give Mishra his first wicket. Australia were 75/7 as Haddin got out.
Australia lost the remaining 3 wickets in 11 runs as India seal a 73-run win. Indian spinners shared 7 wickets among themselves. Ashwin won the man of the match award for his 11/4 spell. This was India’s 4th win in as many games in this ICC World T20. Australia, on the other hand were still left searching for their first win in this tournament.
Earlier, after put in to bat first, India ended their innings at 159 for 7, powered by a brisk 60 by Yuvraj Singh.
India lost Rohit Sharma in the second over and were16/1 in 2 overs. Virat Kohli did not waste too much time to play his shots. India by the end of 4 overs were 30/1.
Kohli and Rahane added 14 runs next in two overs to take India’s run-tally to 44 as the powerplay got over. Kohli got out in the very next over of powerplay. Muirhead dismissed him as White caught him in the deep.
Rahane too did not last too long as he edged one to Haddin on the bowling of Bollinger in the 9th over. Yuvraj and Raina could not up the run-rate. Raina was dismissed by Maxwell in the 12th over as India were 69/4.
Thanks to Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh’s explosive strokeplay, India added 90 runs in the last 8 overs. Yuvraj brought up his fifty, finding the batting form as India approach the semi-final.
India made two changes — Ajinkya Rahane came in for Shikhar Dhawan and Mohit Sharma for Mohamed Shami.
Having registered comprehensive wins against Pakistan, West Indies and Bangladesh in three successive matches to qualify for the semi-finals, the confidence of the team is at an all-time high as they face George Bailey’s Australia which has not done justice to their immense potential.
With back-to-back defeats against Pakistan and West Indies, the Australian team are all but out of the competition with a faint mathematical possibility that has kept them afloat and interested. But for that to happen, George Bailey and his team first need to beat India by a comprehensive margin which looks a distant reality considering the current form of the two teams.
While India’s campaign has gone from strength to strength with a solid all-round show in all the matches, Australia have struggled to maintain the momentum during the key stages of the game which is all the more important in a short format like the Twenty20.
For India, the key has been their spinners, who have done a tremendous job. While left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja has been a bit on the expensive side despite taking wickets, off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and leg-spinner Amit Mishra have been pictures of consistency so far in the tournament.
Ashwin should be lauded for the manner in which he has bowled in the powerplay overs often seizing the initiative for his team while Mishra has been fantastic for India at the back end with his clever variations. They have been assigned different roles by their captain and both have so far stood tall to the expectations of their leader.
