CHENNAI: After beating the Steven Smith-led Australia by 4-1 in the ODI series last week, a confident Team India will look to pile up woes on the troubled visitors in the three-match T20 series, which starts today in Ranchi.
The series will see the return of 38-year-old left-arm pacer Ashish Nehra into the Indian T20 set-up again, who played his last series against England almost nine months ago. Also, in-form opener Shikhar Dhawan, who skipped the ODIs to attend to his wife's health, will be replacing Ajinkya Rahane in the squad, while Tamil Nadu batsman and T20 specialist Dinesh Karthik retains his place. However, 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant faced the axe.
For the Aussies, skipper Smith's shoulder injury has come as a big shock. Vice-captain and opener David Warner will don the captain's hat tonight against Indians at the Jharkhand Cricket Association Stadium.
India will be looking forward to nothing short of a 3-0 whitewash, as this would mean Kohli and Co inching closer to number one status in T20 rankings, after leading the charts in ODI and Test cricket.
Both the teams have so far played against each other 13 times after their first-ever meeting at the 2007 World T20 semifinal in South Africa's Durban. In those encounters, the men in blue have had a superior record of 9-4 against the Kangaroos. Yuvraj Singh has been the 'tormentor-in-chief' in most of these games. The Aussies' tale has been a sorry one for the past four years, having been beaten in all six matches between the two sides.
Before the Warner-led boys take the field at Ranchi's JKCA International Stadium to improve their worst head-to-head record against the hosts, here are flashbacks of some of the best T20 matches played between India and Australia in the past 10 years.
The seven-wicket Sydney win to complete Aussie whitewash:
In January 2016, India toured Australia for a bilateral series of five ODIs and three T20s. The ODIs were poor tales for the visitors, as despite the trio of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli topping the batting charts, the bowlers got hammered throughout the five matches. However, the six-wicket victory at the fifth ODI in Sydney, while chasing 331 runs, started the turnaround for India in the later part of the tour.
The T20 series, which lasted from January 26 to January 31, began in an emphatic fashion for the MS Dhoni-led side, as they registered two back-to-back victories in Adelaide and Melbourne, by 37 and 27 runs. When the two sides met for the final T20 on January 31st in Sydney Cricket Ground, India had an added incentive of whitewashing Aussies for the first time down under.
Winning the toss and batting first, Australia put a challenging 197-5 on a benign Sydney track. Skipper Shane Watson led the charge with a 71-ball 124, laced with ten fours and six sixes. However, a tight death bowling from India ensured that the home side would add only 29 runs in last three overs. The visitors' chase started on a grand note, with Shikhar Dhawan's nine-ball 26 run knock helping them to cross 50-run mark within the first four overs. After Dhawan's departure, Kohli and Rohit kept India going by stitching a 78-run third-wicket partnership.
However, Australia found an unlikely hero in inexperienced leggie, Cameron Boyce. He dismissed both the in-form Indian batsmen, leaving the visitors at tricky 147-3 in the fifteenth over. With 51 runs needing in last five overs, Suresh Raina brought the chase back on track, with his 25-ball 49 knock. But it was Yuvraj Singh, who blasted Aussies yet again.
With 17 needing in last over, the southpaw sent Andrew Tye for a boundary and a six in first two deliveries, bringing the equation down to seven in last four. With no boundary in next three balls, the equation reached two in final delivery. Raina lived up to his T20 superstar avatar, as he lifted Tye's outside off delivery over the backward point region for a boundary. India won the series by 3-0. They also went on to win 15 out of their next 23 games, whereas Aussies reached another low by getting knocked out from World T20 in India, two months after this drubbing.
When Indian spinners bamboozled Bailey and Co. in World T20 2014:
In 2014, the fifth edition of the ICC T20 World Cup took place in Bangladesh from 16th March to 6th April. India, the 2007 champion, entered the competition with ODI series defeats in South Africa and New Zealand, along with the Asia Cup group league exit. With a dismal record of missing semifinal berths in the previous three World T20s, Dhoni and Co. had a mountain to climb, as they were placed in Group B, along with 2012 champion West Indies, Australia, host Bangladesh and arch-rival Pakistan.
India started their campaign by imposing a seven-wicket win against Pakistan in the tournament opener on 21st March at Mirpur's Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, followed by seven and eight-wicket wins against Windies and Bangladesh in next two matches.
Australia, with a batting powerhouse in form of David Warner, Aaron Finch, Glenn Maxwell and Shane Watson lost against Pakistan by 16 runs in their first match, followed by another six-wicket defeat against Carribeans. With their semifinal chances in jeopardy, the George Bailey-led side met Indians in Mirpur on March 30. Having already won their first three group matches, India were assured of their semifinal spot, but they have to settle a score as they were beaten by the Aussies in the last two World T20 meetings.
Bailey won the toss and put the Indians into bat first on a slowish Mirpur track. The move seemed to have worked initially, as India got reduced to 66-4 in the 12th over, with the openers Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane, along with Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina being dismissed cheaply. However, Yuvraj Singh, whose bat was silent in the previous three games, suddenly found the mojo. His decisive knock of 43-ball 60 consisted of five fours and four towering sixes. Leggie James Muirhead, who got the big wicket of Kohli, faced the Yuvi wrath, as his two-over spell ended with a dismal figure of 1-24. Skipper Dhoni too lived up to his finisher status, as his 20-ball 24 helped India to post 159-7.
Australia's chase was never on, as offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin's four-wicket haul, along with leggie Amit Mishra's four-over spell of 13-2, destroyed them for 86 in 16.2 overs. Only Maxwell, Warner and Brad Hodge were able to score two-digit scores. Their total of 27/3 in first six overs also went on to become the worst powerplay score against the Indians. India ended the group stage with a perfectly clean sheet, whereas Aussies could only salvage a seven-wicket win against Bangladesh in their last group game.
The epic World T20 semifinal in Durban, 2007:
In 2007, South Africa hosted the first ever T20 World Cup, thereby beginning the new age of the game's shortest format. Twelve teams participated in he tournament, which lasted from September 11-24.
India came into the Rainbow Nation with an experience of playing one T20 only, since the format's beginning in 2005. Since batting stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid decided to stay away from the showpiece event, the selectors decided to give the captain's hat to MS Dhoni. While new faces like Yoginder Sharma and Rohit Sharma were inducted in the squad, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan and Dinesh Karthik made their comebacks in coloured clothing.
With a humiliating 50-over World Cup first round exit earlier that year in West Indies, not much was
expected from the Men-in-Blue. They started their campaign with a washout against Scotland in Durban's Kingsmead Stadium, followed by a bowlout victory against Pakistan at the same venue.
Placed in Group E at the Super Eight stage, India suffered a narrow 10-run defeat against Kiwis in Johannesburg, followed by morale-boosting eighteen and thirty-seven run wins against England and South Africa.
On the other hand, the reigning 50-over World Champion Australia, who started their tournament with a five-wicket defeat against Zimbabwe in the group stage and another six-wicket mauling against Pakistan in the Super Eight, got their problems further compounded, as skipper Ricky Ponting suffered an injury ahead of the semifinal against India.
When the two sides met in Durban on September 22, India won the toss and elected to bat first. With the early departures of both the inform openers Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, Dhoni and Co. found themselves in a tricky 41-2 after eight overs.
Then came Yuvraj Singh. In the back of a 16-ball 58 knock against England a game earlier, where he also hit Stuart Broad for six sixes in an over, the Punjab lad scored a marauding 30-ball 70, with five boundaries and five sixes.
Robin Uthappa too chipped in with a steady 28-ball 34. The duo added 84 runs for the third wicket in just 6.3 overs. Dhoni too hammered some runs towards the end, as his 18-ball 36 helped India to finish strongly at 188-5.
Australia started their chase in grand fashion. Despite stand-in skipper Adam Gilchrist's early departure, Mathew Hayden and all-rounder Andrew Symonds maintained pressure on Indian bowling. The Kangaroos were looking comfortable at 134-2 in the fifteenth over when Sreesanth uprooted Hayden's middle-stump. It opened the floodgates for India, as Symonds departed too in next two overs. It was followed by dismissals of Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Brett Lee.
The match ended in a 15-run heartbreak for Kangaroos, while India lifted the cup one day later by beating Pakistan by five runs in Johannesburg's Wanderers Stadium. While the tournament saw the beginning of Dhoni-era in Indian cricket, BCCI too cashed in the moment by introducing cash-rich Indian Premier League next year.
When Yuvraj Singh reprised his 'Aussie-destroyer' role in Rajkot:
In 2013, George Bailey lead Aussies toured India for seven ODIs and a solitary T20. It was their fourth visit in the subcontinent since 2007. The rivalry resumed with the T20 match in Rajkot on October 10th.
On a flat track, coupled with short boundaries in the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, India won the toss and elected to field first. Backed by Aaron Finch's 52-ball 89 and debutant Nic Maddinson's 16-ball 34, Aussies got a dream start as they crossed 50 runs within the first four overs. However, spells from Bhuvneshwar Kumar (4-0-34-3), Vinay Kumar (4-0-26-3) and Ravindra Jadeja (4-0-23-1) effected a mini-collapse in the visitors' batting, as they slumped from 84-2 in eighth over to 201-7 at 20th over. Apart from Finch and Maddinson, only Glenn Maxwell at number five made a significant contribution by scoring a brisk 13-ball 27.
India started their chase by losing opener Rohit Sharma and number three Suresh Raina for 8 and 19 runs respectively.
Although Shikhar Dhawan, playing his second T20 only, showed some resolve in form of a 19-ball knock of 32, spinner Xavier Doherty dismissed him around the ninth over. The problems further compounded for the home side, when Virat Kohli departed for 29, with the team total being at 100-4 in 11.1 overs.
Yuvraj Singh, who was making a comeback, after being left out for eight months, decided to make the occasion grander by pummeling his familiar foes again.
His 35-ball 77, laced with eight fours and five sixes, along with skipper Dhoni's 21-ball 24 helped India to chase down the last 102 runs in just 8.3 overs, without suffering any more damage. It was a match to forget for Aussie pace trio of Clint McKay, James Faulkner and Nathan Coulter-Nile, as they conceded 130 runs together in twelve overs while sharing only three scalps. For his match-winning knock, Yuvraj was adjudged as the man of the match.
India's knockout punch of the Kangaroos in World T20 2016:
India hosted the sixth edition of the ICC World T20 from March 8 to April 3. The hosts, which entered the tournament with a red-hot form of ten victories in eleven games, including an undefeated Asia Cup T20 campaign in Bangladesh, started their run with a shock defeat against New Zealand in the tournament opener at Nagpur on March 15. They got bowled out for 79 runs while chasing a meagre target of 127.
However, MS Dhoni-led side showed their character by inflicting a six-wicket defeat on Pakistan in a rain-curtailed 18-over match at Kolkata's Eden Gardens three days later. This was followed by a one-run close shave against Bangladesh in Bengaluru, where they defended less than ten runs in last over.
Aussies also started their campaign in a similar manner by loosing to Kiwis in their first game at Dharamsala by eight runs, followed by three-wicket and 21-run wins against Bangladesh and Pakistan in Bengaluru and Mohali. With New Zealand already qualifying for the semifinals after winning all of their four group games, the last Pool B encounter between the two sides on March 27 in Mohali's Punjab Cricket Association Stadium became a virtual quarter-final.
Batting first, Aussies started with a thunderous note, as openers Usman Khwaja and Aaron Finch forged a 54 run partnership within the first four overs. However, Ashish Nehra dismissed Khwaja for 26, resulting in a bottle-neck situation for Steven Smith's men, as they could manage 106 runs more in next 16 overs, losing five wickets.
Apart from Finch's 34-ball 43 and Khwaja's 16-ball 26, only Glenn Maxwell made some significant contribution in form of 28-ball 31. Regular opener David Warner, along with skipper Smith failed to cross double-digit scores. For India, Ashish Nehra (4-0-20-1), Jasprit Bumrah (4-0-32-1) and Hardik Pandya (4-0-36-2) were the economic ones. The duo of Yuvraj and
Ravindra Jadeja too contributed, as they gave only 39 runs in six overs bowled together while effecting a dismissal.
India started their chase with a mini top-order collapse. The dismissals of openers Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and number four Suresh Raina left them at 49-3 in 7.4 overs.
Then came Master Chaser Virat Kohli. He first forged a 45-run fourth wicket partnership with Yuvraj Singh in next six overs, followed by another 67-run one with skipper MS Dhoni.
With India chasing down the 161-run target in 19.1 overs, Kohli stayed unbeaten for 82, with nine fours and two sixes.
He was adjudged as the man-of-the-match. Although India lost against the tournament champion West Indies in a high-scoring semifinal at Mumbai's Wankhede, the above victory ensured that Men-in-Blue would maintain their 4-0 record against Aussies for that year.