Australia has won the second T20I in their two-match T20I series by 2-0 against India. India put up a huge total of 190 but the visitors chased down the huge total of 191 with ease.
Put into bat, India started off really well on the back of KL Rahul’s wonderful innings. They crossed the 50-run mark within the power play. However, Australia bounced back beautifully and picked up the openers’. Later, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli steadied the ship and started hitting all over the ground and helped India to put up 190 on board.
In reply, Australia too didn’t get a flying start as Siddarth Kaul cleaned up Marcus Stoinis in the 3rd over. Aaron Finch too soon followed him in the dugout. D’Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell then build a 73-run partnership before the former one’s dismissal. Maxwell then steadied the ship with Peter Handscomb and the duo helped the visitors to go past the finish line.
Here are the three talking points from the 2nd T20I:
Glenn Maxwell’s stupendous form
Glenn Maxwell was simply superb at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday evening in their second T20I against India. He came into bat when Australia were 22/2, remained unbeaten on 113 and guided Australia to a scintillating win.
He hit every bowler outside the park – be it spinner or pacer. Though the run-chase at Chinnaswamy becomes easy in the second innings, taking any credit away from him would be wrong.
However, he had to face many criticisms earlier for his poor form but on the days he gets going, no one could stop him. He has the ability to hit the ball big and is capable of turning games single-handedly. As the World Cup is around the corner, Australia would hope he can continue his formidable form.
India’s spinners fail in their plans
Over the past few years, India team is pretty much dependant on their spin duo Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal. They have proved their worth in every match.
However, Yadav is not a part of the series and his absence somehow has weakened India’s bowling line-up. On the other hand, Chahal conceded 47 runs in four overs and was hit by Maxwell. None of his tricks did work in the match- be it bowling wide of off stump or hitting the ball into the pads.
Along with him, Krunal Pandya too couldn’t perform well. The left-arm spinner ended up conceding 33 runs and failed to take any wickets. However, Jaspreet Bumrah too had a bad at office. Except for Vijay Shankar; who picked up 2 wickets.
However, India won’t be thinking too much on this as this is very rare from them and they will surely try to bounce back in the ODI series.
Peter Handscomb's stable innings of 20*
The second match will surely go with Maxwell’s name, but it's quite important to credit Peter Handscomb too who supported Maxwell really well in their 99-run partnership. He scored a handy 20 runs in 18 balls and remained unbeaten in their run-chase.
However, in the era of T20s, this is not a remarkable innings. Instead of scoring big, he chose to give the strike to Maxwell and spends more time on the non-striker's end.
In their 99-run partnership, Maxwell scored the more number of the runs. Maxwell was the set batsman between two and every time Handscomb got on to strike, he made sure to rotate the strike and give Maxwell the strike. He may not play a big innings but his supportive innings was equally praiseworthy.
Now, both the team will face each other in a five-match ODI series, starting from March 5.
