The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President came forward and lauded the dynamic duo of Team India’s middle-order Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja for resurrecting their team’s innings against Australia at the Manuka Oval, Canberra on Wednesday.
In reply, the hosts lost the prized wickets of Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith as they were reduced to 56/2 and that is when skipper Aaron Finch decided to play a counter-attacking knock before he was outfoxed by Ravindra Jadeja for 75.
Even though Moises Henriques and Cameron Green and wicket-keeper batsman Alex Cary could not convert their good starts into impactful knocks, Glenn Maxwell gave India a scare with his power-hitting skills. The explosive middle-order batsman played a game-changing innings to near perfection with a 38-ball 59 at a strike rate of 155.26 including three boundaries and four maximums. When it appeared as if he would single-handedly take the game away from the visitors, he was done by a picture-perfect yorker from Jasprit Bumrah with the hosts still needing 35 from 33 deliveries.
In the end, India managed a consolation win by 13 runs by bowling out the Aussies for 289 in the final over.
