Glenn Maxwell’s magical unbeaten hundred carried Australia to a five-wicket win over India in the third T20I here on Tuesday.
Glenn Maxwell – BIG SHOW Does it again
Glenn Maxwell almost single-handedly led an extraordinary run chase for Australia as they beat India by five wickets. While Australia lost wickets frequently, Australia’s batters kept themselves within sights of the required run rate. It eventually ended up becoming almost a one-man show with Maxwell almost single-handedly keeping their run rate up while Marcus Stoinis struggled at the other end. Captain Matthew Wade also took time to get going but he eventually started ably assisting Maxwell in his assault. Maxwell finished off with a six and three fours off the last four balls of the match, finishing unbeaten on 104 off 48 balls while Wade was on 28 off 16.
Ruturaj Gaikwad is the man of the game for India as he carried his bat after scoring a mammoth century. He ended up scoring 123 runs, taking 57 balls. Starting off slow, he saw his partners depart from the other end. But he kept his calm and held on to his end. India have scored 222 at the loss of 3 wickets from their twenty overs.
Batting first, India lost Yashasvi Jaiswal (6) on the second delivery of second over as Jason Behrendorff, as Wade catches the ball. Just after this, Kane Richardson departs Ishan Kishan on the third delivery of third over, as he was caught by Stoinis.
Suryakumar and Ruturaj Gaikwad then steadied the ship. The pair put up 57 off 47 balls for the third wicket before SKY fell for 39 off 29. Gaikwad has soldiered on and put up an even bigger stand with Tilak Varma since then, crossing his half-century in the process. Gaikwad accelerated dramatically after that and eventually went past 100 in 52 balls. The last over of the Indian innings was bowled by Glenn Maxwell and it went for a whopping 30 runs. India ended up with a score of 222/3 with Gaikwad finishing unbeaten on 123 off 57 balls. Tilak Varma scored just 39 in 29 balls in a 141-run partnership with Gaikwad that came in just 59 balls.
For Australia, Behrendorff has been the pick of the bowlers and has gone for just twelve runs in his four overs.For Australia, Kane Richardson, Jason Behrendorff and Aaron Hardie picked one wicket each. Considering the dew factor, it would have been difficult for India to defend anything below 200 on this surface.
At the midway stage, Australia were three men down while chasing 223 runs. They lost three wickets towards the end of the powerplay, but Maxwell has shown some intent here. He, along with Stoinis were getting boundaries.
The Big Show again took centrestage for Australia! He took the game away, scoring a brilliant ton off just 47 balls, and finishing with the winning runs from his bat. Australia chased 21 runs in the last over, and 43 runs in the last two overs. For India, the pick of the bowlers was Ravi Bishnoi who finished giving 32 runs from his 4 overs taking two wickets.
Maxwell made 104 off 48 balls (8×4, 8×6) as the Aussies went past India’s 222 for 3 in the last ball of the match.
Skipper Matthew Wade remained not out on a crucial 28 off 16 balls.
With this win, Australia managed to cut India’s series lead to 2-1 in the five-match rubber.
Ahead of Tuesday’s T20 clash, Australia were without the services of veteran opener Steve Smith and wrist-spinner Adam Zampa. Meanwhile, a host of other Australian players, including Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis, will be heading home on Wednesday, with Cricket Australia already calling in replacements.