Raina exults after leading India to victory
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Suresh Raina kept his cool under pressure and struck a boundary off the last ball of the match to carry India to a seven-wicket win over Australia in Sydney.
Raina was well supported by opening batsman Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as they made 52 and 50 respectively to ensure India completed their 3-0 series whitewash.
However, Australia stand-in captain Shane Watson deserves a lot of credit as he hammered a magnificent 124 not out.
Watson would have been delighted with his decision to bat first as he dominated India’s bowling attack from the beginning to the end of the innings.
Despite not receiving much support from the rest of his team-mates, Watson put the team on his shoulders and carried them to 197/5 off their 20 overs with his career-best knock of 124 off 71 balls, which included 10 boundaries and six sixes.
Watson celebrates after scoring his maiden Twenty20 International century
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Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Yuvraj Singh picked up one wicket apiece.
Chasing 198 to win, India got off to a brisk start before losing opener Shikhar Dhawan for 26. However, Sharma and Kohli kept the tourists on the right track with a 78-run partnership, during which Sharma brought up his half-century, before he was dismissed by Cameron Boyce for 52 off 38 balls, which included five boundaries and a six.
Sharma’s magnificent form with the bat continued
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Kohli went on to make 50 off 36 deliveries, which included two boundaries and a six, before he was clean bowled by Boyce.
Kohli scored his 12th Twenty20 International fifty
Image courtesy of: Zimbio
Raina and Singh took over after Kohli’s dismissal and edged India ever closer to their target. Despite facing an uphill task in the last over, where India needed 17 runs to win, Singh made it look easy as he scored 10 runs off the first two balls before running a bye on the third.
With the pressure now on Raina, he made four runs off the next two balls, which left India needing two runs to win off the last ball of the match. In the end, Raina became the hero of the match as he smashed the last ball for a boundary to lead India to a nail-biting win.
Boyce was the most successful bowler with two wickets, while Watson claimed one.
Watson, who was named Man of the Match, was gutted to have lost off the last ball, and said: “They certainly are special. They showed it to us in the one-day series as well. We put up the big score to give ourselves a big score, but couldn’t get ourselves over the line. At this point of time I am loving every minute of playing for Australia. The privilege to captain the team was great although it was a bit hectic at times. I do enjoy my batting. I blocked the ball a bit too much early on, but it was a pleasure to bat with Uzzie. Can’t believe he got out. We have got the world-class players, there is no reason why we can’t have a successful World T20. Just need to chalk out the roles.”
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was delighted to have ended the tour on a high, and said: “Lots of credit to the bowlers. In the ODI series the batsmen were doing well, we needed the extra 10% from the bowlers. That has changed with Bumrah coming in and others getting their act together. Yes, the batsmen have taken it up a notch, but it is the bowlers who have done their job better, which has made the difference. There might be one or two changes based on the conditions in the World T20, but this is roughly what our T20 side will look like.”