Australian skipper Aaron Finch gave credit to his batters after they chased down a gargantuan score of 209 runs against India at the IS Bindra Stadium, Mohali on Tuesday. The visitors were able to get off to a quick start as Cameron Green and Aaron Finch were able to hit the ground running.
Finch, who isn’t in the best of forms in the recent past, scored 22 runs off just 13 balls while Green was able to time the ball to perfection. The duo took the attack against the Indian bowlers in the PowerPlay overs and made most of the fielding restrictions.
Australia raced to 109-1 in the first 10 overs and then they did veer off the track as they lost four quick wickets. However, Matthew Wade scored a quickfire knock of 45 runs off just 21 balls to help his team get over the line.
Wade added 62 runs for the sixth wicket with debutant Tim David before Steve Smith and Cameron Green had added 70 runs for the second wicket. Australian batters were able to keep the required run rate under check and they came up with a collective effort.
Aaron Finch said in the post-match presentation after the visitors won by four wickets, “It was a good contest, wasn’t it? We had some really good partnerships, there were some good contests between the bat and ball. They came hard at us. You expect the run rate to slow down if you lose wickets. The batters tried to change the momentum of the game. That’s what we play for, we still try to instil all the processes leading into the World Cup.”
On the other hand, Cameron Green scored 61 runs off just 30 balls with the help of eight fours and four sixes while playing only his second T20I. Green lived a charmed life as he was given two lives (one dropped catch and one LBW review, which India didn’t take) and he was awarded the Player of the Match for his fine knock.
Cameron Green said after the game, “I was thrown into the deep end (opening for the first time) but having someone like Finchy as an experienced campaigner, he kept me calm. We had the luxury of seeing the Indians bat and Hardik must be one of the best in what he does, it was pleasure to watch him. It was kind of good to watch them bat, and that gave us an idea about how to go about while chasing. (Whether he’ll continue to bat as an opener) I have no idea, I’ll leave it up to the coaches to think about that.”
India and Australia will take on each other in the second T20I at Nagpur on Friday.
