Team India finally managed to pull one back in the series beating Australia by 13 runs at the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Speaking at the end of the game, Aussie skipper Aaron Finch pointed out that it was Hardik Pandya-Ravindra Jadeja partnership which took the game from them.
Australia did feel the absence of David Warner in the run chase. Glenn Maxwell almost gave India a heart-attack, until Jasprit Bumrah cleaned him up with a clinical yorker to put India on top. Aaron Finch was amongst the runs once again, but Steve Smith couldn’t repeat his heroics. And that’s what hurt the Aussies.
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Indian bowlers – Shardul Thakur bowled an impressive spell and T Natarajan, who made his debut conceded an expensive over against Maxwell – roared back in style as he executed his yorkers once again to help India seal the tie.
Batting first, the carnage from Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja, who put on a 150-run unbeaten partnership to bail India out from a precarious situation. Inexperience showed in the Aussie bowling attack with Sean Abbott going for plenty at the death. The middle-order implosion after the Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli show earlier saw the hosts clawing their way back into the game.
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Kohli’s departure after his fifty accentuated India’s woes as they were reduced to 152 for five. 300 looked like a distant dream at that stage, but Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja went berserk in the last 7 overs accumulating 93 runs to post 302 runs in the board.
Hardik-Jadeja partnership took the game away – Aaron Finch
Speaking after the first defeat of the series, Aaron Finch admitted that it was the Hardik-Jadeja show which changed the colour of the game. However, he seemed happy with the performance of the boys and especially with Glenn Maxwell, who has struggled in the IPL last month.
“I thought we fought really well. It was a great partnership between Hardik and Jadeja. If we got one of those wickets, we could have chased 240 max. Agar bowled beautifully, it was a good day in terms of the changes we made.
The impact that the two spinners are having, that’s important. It’s nice when the guys in the top order contribute and then Maxi (Maxwell) can come in and do his thing with Carey and other guys,” Aaron Finch said.
