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In 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.
For the majority of the innings, Australia was able to
keep up with the asking rate thanks to Maxwell’s aggression and a spirited
cameo from Travis Head. Maxwell and Matthew Wade relished the wet conditions,
hitting boundary after boundary in spite of Australia needing 43 off 12 balls,
21 off six, and two off the final ball when it came down to Axar Patel’s 19 and
Prasidh’s 20. At the end, Maxwell silenced the home crowd by hitting the final
four balls for 6, 4, 4, 4, and driving Prasidh Krishna down the ground.
For the majority of the innings, Australia was able to
keep up with the asking rate thanks to Maxwell’s aggression and a spirited
cameo from Travis Head. Maxwell and Matthew Wade relished the wet conditions,
hitting boundary after boundary in spite of Australia needing 43 off 12 balls,
21 off six, and two off the final ball when it came down to Axar Patel’s 19 and
Prasidh’s 20. In order to quiet the home fans, Maxwell struck the final four
balls for six, four, four. He then drove Prasidh Krishna to the ground.
Australia decided to bowl first, and Jason Behrendroff
looked good when he returned to the team, scoring 17 dots in his 1 for 12
four-over performance. However, Australia conceded 210 runs in their next 16
overs, with Aaron Hardie accounting for 64 of those runs—their joint-most
costly T20I innings.
In the eleventh over, with India’s score 81 for 3,
Suryakumar Yadav went for 39 while Gaikwad was on a run-a-ball 22. After
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan fell cheaply, Australia had a chance to stem
the run flow that Suryakumar had started, but some sloppy bowling from Hardie
and Tanveer Sangha allowed Gaikwad to change gears. When they dropped it short,
Gaikwad pulled them confidently and delivered the full ones in the arc between
long-on and deep extra-cover.
The floodgates truly opened in the final three overs,
as India added 67 runs to their total. After Nathan Ellis made a 12-run over in
the nineteenth over, Gaikwad took Hardie for three sixes and a four. For the
20th over, Wade opted to use Maxwell’s offspin, and Gaikwad made the most of
the favourable matchup, hitting three sixes and two fours in a 30-run over to
lead India to a commanding 222.
After Travis Head’s boundary-filled 35 in 18 balls was
halted by Avesh Khan, Maxwell came in at 66 for 2. He quickly developed a
fondness for Prasidh, hitting two sixes and a four in the eighth over to
quickly get to 25 in ten. However, Australia’s run rate was slowed down by the
dismissals of Marcus Stoinis by Axar and Josh Inglis by Ravi Bishnoi.
Even yet, 88 off 39 under challenging bowling
circumstances was always a shot. Maxwell began the assault on the target in the
sixteenth over, hitting Avesh for six and four, and in the seventeenth over, he
hit back-to-back sixes off Arshdeep.
A tidy 18th from Prasidh put the pressure back on
Australia, but an expensive 19th from Axar, culminating in an error from Ishan
Kishan behind the stumps brought the equation down to 21 off six balls. Wade
and Maxwell got right on top of Prasidh, whose plans went awry with India’s
slow over rate necessitating that he bowl with an extra fielder in the 30-yard
circle.