Australia rode on Maxwell’s brilliance and beat India by three wickets in second T20I.
Maxwell scored a scintillating 113 off 55 deliveries. He hit 9 sixes and 6 fours in his innings and hit shots all over the ground. With an unbeaten century and a half century to his credit in the two-match series, he was declared the man of the series. He also won the man of the match award for this match.
Useful contributions were made by D’Arcy Short who scored 40 runs off 28 balls and Peter Handscomb who remained unbeaten at 20 runs off 18 deliveries.
It was the first series win for Australia in India since 2009. It seems that Australia, which has been badly hit because of ban on Steve Smith and David Warner, have now found some good batsmen like Glenn Maxwell, Handscomb and D’Arcy Short, who have started taking the responsibility of scoring runs for their team in a consistent manner. These are good signs for Australia, the defending champions, ahead of the world cup.
It wasn’t an easy victory for Australia as India had put up a decent score on board. They scored 190 runs for the loss of four wickets in allotted 20 overs.
Virat Kohli scored a brilliant unbeaten 72 runs off 38 deliveries and scored 112 runs in partnership with MS Dhoni, who made a contribution of 40 runs to the partnership.
KL Rahul showed his form once again with the bat and scored a quick 47 runs off 26 deliveries.
This series showed India’s lack of depth in fast bowling department. Leave apart Bumrah, Shami and Bhubnehswar Kumar, their fast bowling cupboard looks bare. These are not good signs so close to the World Cup which will be played in seaming conditions of England.
Let us hope that the upcoming five match ODI Series against Australia and IPL will resolve this problem.
