How’s the Josh?
Melbourne: Josh Hazlewood clinically dismantled a famed Indian top-order with a probing spell to kill the contest as Australia cantered to a four-wicket victory in the second T20 International here on Friday.
In front of a 82,438 strong crowd, India suffered one of its most embarrassing defeats with as many as nine batters failing to reach double digits in a total of 125 in 18.4 overs.
Only Abhishek Sharma, in the form of his life, stood tall amid ruins with a combative 37-ball 68. With Harshit Rana (35 off 33 balls) he added 56 to take the total past 100-run mark after pacer Hazlewood (3/13) left them reeling at 49/5.
Hazlewood bowled an incredible 15 dot balls in his four-over spell to break the backbone of the Indian batting and killed the contest within 20 minutes of start. In reply, skipper Mitchell Marsh blasted his way to 46 off 26 balls with hosts completing the chase in only 13.2 overs losing six wickets. Most batters fell primarily due to attempting audacious shots.
The only silver lining apart from Abhishek’s innings was Varun Chakravarthy’s spell (2/23 in 4 overs) and Jasprit Bumrah’s (2/26 in 4 overs) pinpoint yorker to dismiss Matthew Short.
Most of the Indian batters found it tough to hit through the line due to extra bounce and the lengths that Australian pacers, especially Hazlewood hit during his spell which he finished in one go.While technique of a few batters lay exposed, the Indian team management wouldn’t take the results to heart as the T20 World Cup will be played in Indian conditions where most of the deliveries will not rise above knee roll.There will be minimal seam movement and wickets offering a bit of grip will help Varun Chakravarthy, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel way more. But with three matches left in the series, Indian batters could take a leaf out of Abhishek’s book after he burnished his credentials as world’s numero uno T20 batter with some breathtaking strokes.
Abhishek played some outrageous shots on the off-side: slashes, check drives and lofted strokes, to race to a 23-ball half-century.
