The second T20 between India and Australia went down to the wire and had fans sitting at the edge of their seats. India who were 1-0 going into the second T20 at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday held their nerve and ended up winning the game by with 2 balls to spare.
India have now won the T20 series and have also won three games in a row against Australia (the 3rd ODI and the first two T20 games). The men in blue will now look to win the third and final T20 game on December 8 at the SCG to whitewash Australia and take that momentum into the four match test series.
Australia Playing Good Cricket
Aussie fans are disappointed to see their team lose three straight games in a row on home soil. However, we must point out that the Australians have not played bad cricket – definitely not in the second T20 game!
India put Australia into bat at the SCG and stand-in captain Matthew Wade decided to open the innings. Some Aussie fans believe that the selectors should have given Steven Smith the chance to captain the side once again as it was the perfect opportunity with Finch out. Wade did a good job leading from the front and made 58 off 32 balls to give the Aussie innings momentum at the top of the order.
Smith also played well and scored 46 out of 38 balls. He got out when he was getting ready to cut loose. The Aussie middle-order capitalized on the good start and Maxwell, Henriques and Stoinis all played little cameos that helped Australia reach an impressive total of 194.
India Play Better Cricket
India needed a good start at the top of the order and they got it as KL Rahul and S Dhawan put on 56 runs in 5.2 overs before Rahul fell. Captain Kohli came in and stabilized the innings making 40 runs from 24 balls. India played S Samson and he looked good during his brief stay at the crease scoring 15 from 10 balls which included a six and a four.
India was behind the run rate and they decided to promote H Pandya ahead of S Iyer and the move worked brilliantly. Kohli and Pandya were looking to take India to victory when Kohli lost his wicket and gave Australia a good chance of winning.
Pandya and Iyer played brilliantly and in the end India needed 14 runs of the last 6 balls. H Pandya who has been impressive throughout this tour hit two big sixes and helped India win with 2 balls to spare.
Betting Odds For Third T20
India goes in as slight betting favorites with odds of 4/5 against Australia who have odds of 1/1. The Aussies are in the same position that India were in during the third and final ODI. Australia need to win the third T20 game to ensure they don’t suffer a 3-0 whitewash at home. They also need to win on Dec 8 to stop India’s momentum and get back to their winning ways before the start of the test series.
Australia are hurting a bit from losing some of their top players. There is no Mitch Starc, Pat Cummins, David Warner or Aaron Finch who are all world-class T20 players. It will be interesting to see if the Aussies field the same team at the SCG or make any changes.
Will India play the same team and look to wrap up the series or will they experiment now that they have the T20 series secured? India could end up making a couple of changes especially in the bowling department.
