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Arshdeep, Washington give India a Hobart high
A fine spell of pace and then a 49* helped win the third T20I versus Australia, level the series 1-1
Kolkata: Pick the best eleven, win the toss and chase — India finally got everything spot on to win the third T20I in Hobart on Sunday to level the five-match series 1-1. Arshdeep Singh took 3/35, Washington Sundar hammered an unbeaten 23-ball 49 and Jitesh Sharma scored 22 off 13 as they added 43 runs in 25 balls to guide India to a five-wicket win with nine balls to spare.
Australia lost a couple of early wickets but Tim David blasted 74 off 38 balls before Marcus Stoinis provided the finishing touches with 64 off 39 balls. They were on track to touch 200 but Jasprit Bumrah gave away just six runs in the 19th over to break the momentum and allow India the respite of chasing 186.
India started well with Abhishek Sharma muscling Xavier Barlett for a flat six over point before taking two fours and a six off Sean Abbott in the second over. Shubman Gill was nudging singles to the on side in the hope that Abhishek would build on that early momentum but Nathan Ellis broke the opening partnership, hurrying Abhishek with a short ball that he tried to pull but only got a leading edge.
Suryakumar Yadav arrived and straightaway hit two sixes but Ellis struck again, trapping Gill leg before. Stoinis saw the back of the India captain with a short and slower delivery that he spooned to extra cover for a soft dismissal.
Tilak Varma warmed up with a six off Matthew Short and a promising partnership seemed to be brewing with Axar Patel as India raced to 105/3 after 10 overs. But Ellis struck again, bouncing Patel and inducing a wild pull that only got a top edge. The short ball was proving to be a gamechanger but not to Washington who pulled Ellis and Sean Abbott for three sixes over midwicket.
With the run rate never really getting big on India, Washington had the licence to keep hitting it big and clean. Matthew Kuhnemann’s full toss was clubbed towards deep backward square leg where Stoinis nearly caught it but tipped it over the rope. Stoinis’s medium pace too proved to be ineffective with Washington smashing his low full toss over the umpire for four. Varma had been long dismissed by then but Jitesh never let the momentum dip, his standout shot being a scoop off Ellis for four before he lofted Abbott over extra cover for four to finish the chase in style.
At a comparatively smaller venue, India’s bowling was reasonably good but the decision to not give Washington an over was perplexing when Shivam Dube and Abhishek ended up conceding 56 as India’s fifth bowler. It could have easily gone awry for India had David batted longer.
He came out at No.3 after Travis Head top-edged Arshdeep and immediately looked to counterpunch by bludgeoning boundaries. Bumrah was lofted over cover, Varun Chakravarthy was hit for four and six off consecutive balls before David again went after Bumrah, muscling him over cover point for another boundary. Patel was hit for two sixes in an over, so was Chakravarthy as David reached his fifty in just 23 balls. He looked primed for more but Dube finally weighed in, getting David to hit straight to Varma stationed at the long-off boundary.
