RANCHI: Spinner Kuldeep Yadav led an inspired Indian attack to restrict Australia to 118-8 with rain ending their innings prematurely in the first Twenty20 International on Saturday.
Yadav returned impressive figures of 2-16 with his left-arm wrist spin as the Australian batsmen faltered after being put into bat at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi.
Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah also took two wickets in his three overs as rain forced officials to close the visitors’ innings in 18.4 overs.
Opener Aaron Finch’s 30-ball 42 was the only bright spark for a side that has lost regular skipper Steve Smith to a shoulder injury in the three-match series.
Stand-in-captain David Warner was out in the first over after chopping a seaming delivery from fast bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar onto his stumps. He made eight with the help of two boundaries.
Finch then put together a 47-run second-wicket stand with Glenn Maxwell to raise hopes of an Australian recovery but spinners soon turned on the heat.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal got Maxwell for 17 and Yadav bowled Finch in the 10th over to rattle the visitors’ top order.
Indian bowlers kept coming on to get wickets at regular intervals. The hosts will be given a revised target.
Scoreboard
AUSTRALIA:
D.A. Warner b Kumar 8
A.J. Finch b Kuldeep 42
G.J. Maxwell c Bumrah b Chahal 17
T.M. Head b Pandya 9
M.C. Henriques b Kuldeep 8
D.T. Christian run out 9
T.D. Paine b Bumrah 17
N.M. Coulter-Nile b Bumrah 1
A.J. Tye not out 0
A. Zampa not out 4
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2) 3
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 18.4 overs) 118
FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-55, 3-76, 4-87, 5-89, 6-111, 7-113, 8-114.
DID NOT BAT: J.P. Behrendorff.
BOWLING: Kumar 3.4-0-28-1; Bumrah 3-0-17-2 (1w); Pandya 4-0-33-1; Chahal 4-0-23-1 (1w); Kuldeep Yadav 4-0-16-2.
INDIA: R.G. Sharma, S. Dhawan, V. Kohli, M.K. Pandey, K.M. Jadhav, M.S. Dhoni, H.H. Pandya, Kuldeep Yadav, B. Kumar, Y.S. Chahal, J.J. Bumrah.
UMPIRES: N. Menon (India) and C. Shamshuddin (India).
TV UMPIRE: A.K. Chaudhary (India).
MATCH REFEREE: R.B. Richardson (West Indies).
Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2017
