At the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, India defeated Australia by 20 runs in the fourth game of the five-match Twenty20 International Series on Friday, December 1. India, who were given the opportunity to bat first, amassed a respectable 174/9 in the 20 overs permitted, thanks in large part to the services of Jitesh Sharma (35 off 19), Rinku Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal (37 off 28), and Ruturaj Gaikwad (32 off 28).
Australia was restricted to 154/7 in their 20 overs, leading scorer Matthew Wade with 36* (23). With three wickets in four overs, Axar Patel was the highlight of the Indian bowling attack, and Ravi Bishnoi bowled a cost-effective spell of 1/17.
Let’s examine the main talking topics for the game:
1. Rinku Singh keeps up his amazing form
After 8.1 overs and with India in a vulnerable position at 63/3, the southpaw came in to bat. He therefore had a different role to play in constructing the innings this time. First, Rinku and Gaikwad engaged in a vital 48-run partnership off 31 balls for the fourth wicket.
Later, he and Jitesh Sharma combined for 56 runs for the fifth wicket off just 32 balls, pushing India’s total past 160. But the 26-year-old was removed in the last over, leaving him to miss his first T20I fifty after being removed for 46 (29).
2. Spinners help India turn the corner
Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi, the spin twins, hauled India back into the match after Australia had taken a commanding 40 runs in 3.1 overs. Josh Philippe (8 off 7) was removed by Bishnoi, while Travis Head (31 off 16), Ben McDermott (19 off 22), and Aaron Hardie (8 off 9) were removed by Patel to record figures of 3/16 in four overs.
3. Ben Dwarshuis leads Australia in scoring with the ball.
Australia’s best bowler was a left-arm seamer who was playing in just his second Twenty20 international match of his career. He finished with figures of 3/40 in four overs. He took out Suryakumar Yadav (1 off 2) for his first wicket in international cricket, and he also removed Axar Patel (0 off 1) and Jitesh Sharma (1 off 2) to cause a collapse in the last overs.
Losing Captain, Matthew Wade, Australia said:
We just didn’t play spin very well, lost a few little too wickets in the middle as well. The guys came in did a good job but unfortunately we couldn’t do the job with the bat. Just to continue to learn from the guys who are already established in the team and to have depth in the squad is really key as the T20 World Cup is round the corner.
Winning Captain, Suryakumar Yadav, India said:
Other than toss, everything (went well). Boys showed character and that was most important for us. We spoke in the meeting before the game to go out and express yourself and be fearless. I always love putting Axar under pressure and the way he bowled was unbelievable. The plan (during the death overs) was to go for the yorkers and then see what happens.
Player of the Match, Axar Patel (3/16, 4 overs), India said:
I was trying a lot of things when I was at home and it came out well today. I tried to stick to my strengths and wasn’t really bothered even I had gotten hit and bowling stump-to-stump was the key to negate the dew factor. To stay attacking and be mentally strong is important as there is every chance to get hit in this format. When you go with an attitude to pick wickets, will feel much better. During the (injury) break I focussed on improving myself and add new variations to my bowling to remain successful at the highest level.
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