Picture : BCCI / Twitter
It is not very often that one gets to see a Indian cricket skipper superstar Virat Kohli’s special innings go in vain. But this happened at Bengaluru during the second T20 between India and Australia. As Glenn Maxwell’s blistering hundred overshadowed Kohli’s brilliance.
India asked to bat first put on a challenging total of 190 / 4. Thanks largely to a brilliant 72 off 38 balls by skipper Virat Kohli and a fine 40 off mere 23 balls by Mahendra Singh Dhoni,
The duo lifted India total towards the end with some terrific shots all round the wicket to delight the huge home crowd. The pair added 100 runs for the fourth wicket.
India rested Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan struggled to score 14 off 24 balls. But K L Rahul batted well to score 47 off 26 balls. Rishabh Pant failed to fire again . He fell for 1.
For Australia Jason Behrendorff 1/ 17, Nathan Coulter-Nile 1/ 33, Pat Cummins 1/ 40, D Arcy Short 1/ 29 were the wicket- takers.
The total was daunting but Australia rose to the challenge . Australia lost Marcus Stoinis and skipper Aaron Finch early. But Maxwell added 73 with D’Arcy Short, who made 40, for the third wicket and then another unbroken 99-run stand for the fourth with Peter Handscomb to make the chase seem easy. Handscomb remained unbeaten on 20.
Maxwell was at his brilliant best and scored blistering unbeaten 113 off 55 balls studded with nine towering sixes and seven fours . It was clean power hitting. It was his third Twenty20 International hundred . He scored 56 at Vizag . So he was in top form in the series. Australia finished at 194/ 3 in 19. 4 overs . The win helped them clinch the T20 series – 2-0.
For India, Vijay Shankar took 2/ 38 . Siddharth Kaul 1/ 45 were the wicket- takers.
