Australian skipper Matthew Wade admitted they couldn’t nail their yorkers after losing the first T20I against India by two wickets at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Thursday. Australia could not defend the total despite putting 208 runs on the board after they were put into bat by Suryakumar Yadav.
It was a small ground and the pitch was a belter and thus Australia had their work cut out in defending 208 runs. Suryakumar Yadav scored a scintillating knock of 80 runs off just 42 balls with the help of nine fours and four maximums. SKY was awarded Player of the Match for his impressive batting show.
The Indian skipper was able to hit the ground running after India lost two early wickets of their openers – Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad. Ishan Kishan scored a crucial knock of 58 runs and added 112 runs with SKY. Rinku Singh added the finishing touches as he scored a crucial cameo of 14-ball 22 in the end to take his team home.
Meanwhile, barring Jason Behrendorff (4-1-25-1), all the Australian bowlers took a beating as they conceded more than 10 runs/overs. The visitors failed to hit the right line and length and thus could not contain the home tea.
On the other hand, in the first innings, Josh Inglis played a mind-blowing knock of 110 runs off just 50 balls with the help of 11 fours and eight sixes but his efforts went in vain. Wade showered praise on Inglis for playing a superb knock, which helped Australia post more than 200 runs on the board.
Matthew Wade said in the post-match presentation, “It was a good match in the end. Inglis got us a score we thought we could defend but the Indians came hard at us. These young Indians play a lot of IPL and T20 cricket.”
He added, “Thought we bowled pretty well, just couldn’t nail our yorkers, easier said than done especially on a small ground like this. Lot of positives to take out from this game. Inglis was class. We thought we did fairly well, Ellis bowled a big over for us to take it into the final over, it went down to the last ball so it shows how close it was.”
The second T20I between India and Australia will be played at the Greenfield International Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
