(Cricket News) At Guwahati, Ruturaj Gaikwad hammered an undefeated 123 to take India to a commanding 222. However, Australia pulled off a remarkable come-from-behind victory behind Glenn Maxwell’s undefeated 104 to preserve the T20I series at 2-1.
With the help of a spirited cameo from Travis Head and Maxwell’s aggression, Australia had been able to keep up with the asking rate for the majority of the innings. When it came to Axar Patel’s 19th and Prasidh’s 20th, Maxwell and Matthew Wade relished the wet conditions, hitting boundary after boundary even when Australia needed 43 off 12 balls, 21 off six, and two off the final ball. Maxwell hit four balls for 6, 4, 4, 4, and then drilled Prasidh Krishna down the field to silence the home crowd.
Avesh Khan had ended Travis Head’s boundary-filled 35 in 18 balls when Maxwell came in at 66 for 2, in the sixth over. He took an early shine to Prasidh, hitting two sixes and a four in the eighth over to race away to 25 in 10. However, Australia’s run rate was halted when Josh Inglis was dismissed by Ravi Bishnoi and Marcus Stoinis was removed by Axar.
Nevertheless, 88 off 39 in difficult bowling conditions was always game on, even though Maxwell would have known this himself having conceded 30 in the last over of India’s innings. Maxwell would have known this, having conceded 30 in the last over of India’s innings. He began the charge towards the target by hammering Avesh for six and four in the 16th and hitting back-to-back sixes off Arshdeep in the 17th.
Prasidh’s 18th over put Australia under pressure again, but an expensive nineteenth from Axar, which culminated in a blunder from Ishan Kishan behind the stumps, reduced the equation to twenty-one off six balls. Prasidh’s plans went awry when he had to bowl with an extra fielder in the thirty-yard circle because of India’s slow over rate. Prasidh went short, full and wide, and short and wide across the over, and it did not seem to matter, especially to Maxwell.
Australia elected to bowl first, and Jason Behrendroff made a good comeback, scoring 17 runs in his four overs (1 for 12). However, during the next 16 overs, Australia let up 210 runs, including 64 in four from Aaron Hardie, which was the team’s joint-most costly stint in Twenty20 Internationals.
After Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan fell cheaply, Australia had an opening to stem the run flow. However, Gaikwad changed gears with some loose bowling, pulling them confidently when they dropped it short and dispatching the full ones in the arc between long-on and deep extra-cover. Gaikwad was on a run-a-ball 22 when Suryakumar Yadav fell for 39 in the 11th over, with India’s score 81 for 3. This run of scoring allowed him to reach his half-century in 32 balls.
The real gates opened in the final three overs, when India amassed 67 runs. Gaikwad hit Hardie for three sixes and a four in the eighteenth over, and Nathan Ellis gave a 12-run reply in the nineteenth over.
Wade then went with Maxwell’s offspin for the twentieth over, and Gaikwad exploited the favorable match-up, hitting three sixes and two fours in a 30-run over that took India to a commanding 222. In the process, he reached his century off 52 balls and finished with 123 off 57.
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