By Liam Warren
INDIA exacted a level of World Cup revenge in the first of a five-match T20I series against Australia, securing a nail-biting two-wicket win with one ball to spare.
The hosts looked to be in serious trouble towards the end of their innings as three wickets fell in the last over and they only required just the two runs for victory.
With the game on a knife-edge, Rinku Singh dispatched the final ball of the run chase for six, which was subsequently called a no-ball by the umpire and sealed the winning run for the home team.
The series has just started following the conclusion of the World Cup final between the two sides five days ago, providing more entertainment for the natives of Asia’s cricketing capital to sink their teeth into.
Australia lifted the most prestigious prize in limited overs cricket, defeating the hosts by six wickets where Travis Head led the scoring with 137 runs from 120 balls which saw him named player of the match on Sunday.
Against all odds defeating a formidable Indian side seemed like no easy feat heading into that World Cup final, yet Australia got the job done with seven overs to spare.
It looked Australia were in the driver’s seat when it came to this match as well, posting 208-3 after their allocation of 20 overs.
Aussie batter Josh Inglis set the record straight, smashing a quick-fire 110 from just 50 balls with 11 fours and eight sixes and a remarkable strike rate of 220.
This innings from the number three was the joint-fastest Australian T20 Internationals history, tying a record previously set by former Aussie white-ball skipper Aaron Finch.
However, Ishan Kishan (58 runs from 39 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (80 runs from 42 balls), the latter of whom was in his first outing as T20 captain, helped towards chasing down the total.
It seemed like all hope was lost in that final over, but a stroke of technical misfortune from Sean Abbott bowling the final over made sure India took a 1-0 lead in the series going into the next four games.
