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Rohit helps India to 45-run win in Asia Cup opener

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India's Rohit Sharma plays a shot against Bangladesh during the Asia Cup Twenty20 international cricket match in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

India’s Rohit Sharma plays a shot against Bangladesh during the Asia Cup Twenty20 international cricket match in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. (AP Photo/A.M. Ahad)

Mirpur: Rohit Sharma’s flamboyant innings of 83 runs not just took India out of trouble, but also helped win the Asia Cup opener against Bangladesh by a comprehensive 45 runs at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Wednesday.

Put in to bat in the first Twenty20 International match of an Asia Cup, India put up a challenging total of 166/6 with man-of-the-match Rohit notching up a strong 55-ball 83.

He got good support from Yuvraj Singh (15) and later all-rounder Hardik Pandya (31) played a superb cameo. The trio rescued the visiting team from a tottering position of 42/3 in the eighth over.

In reply, the hosts never really took off and kept losing wickets regularly which hindered their chances of winning on home soil to hand the match to India.

On what was a very green top which turned out to be low and slow with the ball not coming on to the bat, the Indian batsmen struggled early on. They misjudged the pace of the wicket and several of them perished due to wayward shots.

First to go was opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan (2), who was bowled by Al-Amin Hossain. Vice-captain Virat Kohli (8) did not get to the pitch of the ball to be caught at mid-off off hosts skipper Mashrafe bin Mortaza.

Left-hander Suresh Raina looked dangerous after hitting two boundaries but he was also bowled for 13.

India were in more than a spot of bother at 42/3 when opening batsman Rohit stuck it out in the middle with Yuvraj to strike a 55-run fourth wicket partnership which consolidated the innings. Rohit was the aggressor of the two, smashing seven boundaries and three sixes.

After Yuvraj departed, Pandya took over and he upped the ante with his 18-ball 31 cameo, which included four boundaries and a huge six over deep mid-wicket.

Eventually, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni smashed a six over deep square leg to take his team to 166/6.

Bangladesh pacer Hossain bowled well to take three wickets.

India pacer Ashish Nehra was on target right from the start of the Bangladeshi innings, taking a credible 3/23 from his four overs.

Bangladesh kept losing wickets at regular intervals and never got any partnership going. Sabbir Rahman was the only one who looked batting with intent in his knock of 44 runs, hitting two boundaries and sixes each.

But once he got out, it was more or less over the hosts as the asking rate kept climbing quite quickly.

Indian bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were quite economical with none of them going for more than 6.5 runs per over.

(IANS)

Bandladesh win toss, opt to bowl against India

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File Photo

File Photo

Mirpur: Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza won the toss and elected to bowl against India in the opening match of the Asia Cup at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium here on Wednesday.

The uncharacteristically green track and the dew factor played a role in Mortaza’s decision. The hosts have included four fast bowlers in Taskin Ahmed, Soumya Sarkar, Mustafizur Rahman and Mushfiqur Rahim.

For India, Virat Kohli has returned to the squad in place of Ajinkya Rahane. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who had skipped practice on Monday after suffering back spasms, has managed to recover and will play, much to the relief of Indian fans.

The Indians come into the tournament after two back-to-back T20 series wins. They had won a series in Australia before defeating Sri Lanka at home.

The teams:

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni(captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ashish Nehra, Jasprit Bumrah.

Bangladesh: Mashrafe Mortaza(captain), Imrul Kayes, Soumya Sarkar, Sabbir Rahman, Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Mohammad Mithun, Al-Amin Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Taskin Ahmed.

(IANS)

India beat Sri Lanka by 9 wickets, win series 2-1

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india-beat-sri-lanka

Vishakapatnam: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bamboozled the Sri Lankan batsmen in a mesmerising opening spell as India clinched the T20 series 2-1 with an authoritative nine-wicket victory in the third and final match, here on Sunday.

After bowling out the visitors for 82 in the series-decider with Ashwin finishing with astonishing figures of 4-1-8-4, the hosts cruised to the target in 13.5 overs. Shikhar Dhawan and Ajinkya Rahane were unbeaten on 46 and 22 respectively, as India finished on 84/1.

Earlier, Ashwin opened the attack for the hosts and took four wickets in a magical three-over opening spell to break the back of the Sri Lankan batting order. The off-spinner was unplayable as he returned his career-best figures in T20 cricket.

Sri Lanka could not even bat full 20 overs and were all out for their lowest total in Twenty20 cricket in 18 overs. Suresh Raina also shone on a helpful ACA-VDCA Stadium pitch by scalping two batsmen and giving away just six runs in his two overs.

Ppting to field, India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni handed the new ball to Ashwin and he responded with two wickets in the first over of the match. Ashwin had Niroshan Dickwella (1) stumped when the batsman charged down the track but was completely beaten and the Indian captain had an easy stumping to do.

In the last ball of the over, Ashwin trapped Tillakaratne Dilshan (1) and when he retuned for his second over, he had Dinesh Chandimal caught by Hardik Pandya as the rival skipper tried to cut loose but miscued a shot. The Sri Lankan innings was in complete shambles losing their first three wickets with only 12 on the board.

In his third over, Ashwin got rid of debutant Asela Gun-aratne and soon the Lankans were gasping at 21/5 with left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra taking the fifth wicket.

Such was the dominance of the home bowlers that only six shots to the fence were played in seven overs. It was only in the eighth over that Sri Lanka found sixes through Dasun Shanaka (19), who whacked Yuvraj Singh twice.

SCOREBOARD

Sri Lanka: N. Dickwella st Dhoni b Ashwin 1, T. Dilshan lbw b Ashwin 1, D. Chandimal c Pandya b Ashwin 8, D. Gunaratne c Raina b Ashwin 4, T. Siriwardana b Nehra 4, D. Shanaka b Jadeja 19, S. Prasanna (run out) 9, T. Perera c Jadeja b Raina 12, S. Senanayake c Dhoni b Raina 8, D. Chameera (not out) 9, D. Fernando b Bumrah 1. Extras: (lb2, w3, nb1) 6. Total: (in 18 overs) 82.

FoW: 1-2, 2-3, 3-12, 4-20, 5-21, 6-48, 7-54, 8-72, 9-73.
Bowling: Ashwin 4-1-8-4, Nehra 2-0-17-1 (1w), Bumrah 3-0-10-1, Jadeja 4-1-11-1 (1w), Yuvraj 1-0-15-0 (1nb), Pandya 2-0-13-0 (1w), Raina 2-0-6-2.

India: R. Sharma lbw b Chameera 13, S. Dhawan (not out) 46, A. Rahane (not out) 22. Extras: (lb 3) 3. Total: (for 1 wkt, in 13.5 overs) 84
FoW: 1-29
Bowling: Senanayake 4-0-22-0, Fernando 2-0-7-0, Chameera 2-0-14-1, Prasanna 1-0-3-0, Siriwardana 1-0-9-0, Gunaratne 2.5-0-22-0, Dilshan 1-0-4-0

(IANS)

India beat Sri Lanka by 69 runs in 2nd T20I

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INDvsSL

Ranchi: India produced an all-round performance to outclass Sri Lanka by 69 runs in the second T20 International at the Jharkhand International Stadium here on Friday to level the three-match series 1-1.

Opener Shikhar Dhawan (51 off 25) scored a quick-fire half century as India posted a challenging total of 196/6 in 20 overs.

In reply, the visitors could manage only 127/9 in 20 overs.

Ravichandran Ashwin (3-14), Jasprit Bumrah (2-17), Ravindra Jadeja (2-24), Ashish Nehra (2-26) were the pick of the bowlers for India.

India earlier lost the first match by five wickets.

Chasing a challenging target of 197, the visitors got off to a worst possible start losing experienced Tillakaratne Dilshan (0) in the first over itself off the bowling of Ashwin.

In the next over, Sri Lanka suffered another blow when Danushka Gunathilaka (2) was caught off an outside edge off the bowling of Ashish Nehra and the side was reduced to 3/2 in 1.1 overs.

Next up, some tight bowling by both Indian pacers and spinners saw the visitors lose wickets at regular intervals.

Seekkuge Prasanna (1) being out in the fourth over saw the team struggling at 16/3.

From there on skipper Chamara Kapugedera (32) and Dinesh Chandimal (31) held on to score some quick runs but in the 12th over, Jadeja produced the much needed breakthrough for the hosts to get Kapugedera out to thus put more pressure on Sri Lanka.

With wickets falling in clusters it became difficult for the middle and lower order batsmen to pile on the huge runs which were needed and eventually surrendered to the Indians.

Earlier on, put into bat, the home side got off to an explosive start with both openers Rohit Sharma (43) and Dhawan taking the initiative to go all out at the Lankan bowlers.

With good number of boundaries and sixes, the team scored 70 runs in the powerplay as Dhawan brought up his 50 in just 22 balls.

But in the final ball of seventh over, Dhawan, looking to help the ball over the wicket-keeper’s head off the bowling off Chameera, was cramped for room and the ball got to the glove of Dinesh Chandimal who accepted it gleefully. India were 75/1.

Incoming batsman Ajinkya Rahane (25) gave good support to Rohit as the duo scored at a good pace to bring up India’s 100 in the 11th over itself.

But as Rohit was looking to take on the bowlers, the visitors got the second breakthrough as Chameera clinched a stunning diving catch off his own bowling to reduce India to 122/2 in 13.1 overs.

Soon after the dismissal of Rohit, India received double blow when Rahane looking too pull it too early got the top edge and which lobbed straight to Tillakaratne Dilshan at cover point. India were 127/3 in 14.2 overs.

From there on two new batsmen Suresh Raina and Hardik Pandya took on the bowlers striking boundaries and sixes at regular intervals to take India score to a handsome total.

In the 19th over, Thisara Perera (3-33) got rid of Pandya, Raina and Yuvraj Singh in three consecutive balls to clinch a hat-trick.

(IANS)

India steamroll Sri Lanka to enter fifth Under-19 World Cup final

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Cricket

Mirpur: Three-time champions India continued their invincible run to enter the ICC Under-19 World Cup final for a fifth time with an emphatic 97-run win over Sri Lanka in the semi-finals on Tuesday.

India did well to reach 267/9 after a shaky start before putting up an impressive effort with the ball to dismiss Sri Lanka for 170 in 42.4 overs.

The batting stars were Anmolpreet Singh (72 off 92) and Sarfaraz Khan (59 off 71), who amassed his fourth fifty plus scores in five innings player in the tournament.

The three time champions now await either West Indies or hosts Bangladesh in the final to be played on February 14.

Indians, put in to bat on an overcast morning, were put under pressure right away with its formidable opening pair of Rishabh Pant and captain Ishan Kishan falling cheaply to leave their team at 27/2 in the 10th over.

Batting was not easy but Anmolpreet and the in-form Sarfaraz steadied the ship with a 96-run stand off 126 balls for the third wicket.

While Anmolpreet’s was a gritty 92-ball knock, power-hitter Sarfaraz too played a measured innings considering the circumstances. The 18-year-old IPL recruit, who came into the match with scores of 76, 21*, 74, 74, still managed to pierce the field for six fours and a maximum.

Anmolpreet, who struck half a dozen fours and a six during his stay at the crease, stitched another handy 70-run partnership with Washington Sundar (43 off 45) after Sarfaraz’s departure.

India needed a move on in the last 10 overs and the late burst came courtesy Sundar and Armaan Jaffer, who smashed 29 off 16 balls before Mayank Dagar’s 17-run cameo off 10 balls took his team to a competitive total in a crunch match.

Defending the target, the Indian bowlers did not allow the Lankan chase to take off.

India missed quite a few chances on the field but the bowlers were still good enough to keep things tight for the opposition. After a batting cameo, Dagar did his bit with the ball as well, grabbing 3/21 in 5.4 overs of his left-arm spin.

Pacer Avesh Khan, India’s leading wicket-taker in the tournament, struck in the very first over, dismissing Avishka Fernando leg before wicket even though the ball appeared to be drifting down. Soon after, the run out of Kaveen Bandara made it 13 for 2 in the fourth over.

The chase was not a huge one but Sri Lankan batsmen failed to rotate the strike and a regular loss of wickets meant the asking run rate kept going up.

Sri Lanka’s hopes of reaching their second ever final were all but over when the scoreboard read 133 for six in the 35th over.

Kamindu Mendis (39) and Shammu Ashan (38) got starts but failed to get that one big score needed to overhaul the target.

(PTI)

Sri Lanka overwhelm India in 1st T20I

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India-Srilanka

Pune: Sri Lanka rode on a strong bowling performance to defeat India by five wickets in their first Twenty20 International (T20I) at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium here on Tuesday.

Chasing a meagre target of 102 runs, the Lankans were boosted by a 39-run partnership by Dinesh Chandimal (35) and Chamara Kapugedera (25) to romp home with two overs to spare.

Earlier, rookie pacers Kasun Rajitha (3/29) and Dasun Shanaka (3/16) played a crucial role for the visitors with a three-wicket haul each.

Rajitha enjoyed a memorable debut, bagging two wickets in his very first over in international cricket.

Fast bowler Dushmantha Chameera (2/14) also bowled well, picking up a couple of wickets, including that of star batsman Yuvraj Singh.

Ravichandran Ashwin scored an unbeaten 31 to be the highest scorer for India.

Asked to bat first on a green wicket, the Indian batsmen struggled to cope with the appreciable swing and off-the-pitch movement generated by the Lankan pacers.

Rajitha handed Sri Lanka the advantage right at the start by dismissing Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Raane in the opening over.

Sharma virtually gifted away his wicket, placing a lofted drive off Rajitha neatly into the hands of Chameera at long-off.

Rahane also fell to a careless shot, offering and easy upper edge to Chandimal at short extra cover while attempting to play across the line.

The right-arm pacer should have bagged another wicket in his second over when Suresh Raina was surprised by the extra bounce of a short pitched delivery. The upper edge carried to third man where Danushka Gunathilaka dropped a sitter.

Shikhar Dhawan enjoyed no such luck a short while later when he attempted to smash a slightly outgoing delivery to the leg side. The ball took the flew off the top edge to third man where Gunathilaka made amends for his previous error.

When Shanaka sent back Raina and India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni with a couple of beautiful deliveries in the ninth over, India were in deep trouble at 51/5.

Ashwin tried to produce a late fight-back lower down the order, but rapidly ran out of partners as wickets continued to fall at the other end.

Defending a small total, the hosts had a glimmer of hope when veteran pacer Ashish Nehra dismissed debutant opener Niroshan Dickwella in the third ball of the Sri Lankan innings. Gunathilaka — the other opener — went cheaply as well, miscueing a pull off a short pitched delivery by Nehra.

Chandimal and Kapugedera then took charge, ably negotiating the Indian bowling despite a couple of close calls.

The introduction of Ashwin into the attack paid rich dividends for India as the off-spinner put Lankans in some trouble by bagging two wickets for just 13 runs in his three overs.

But Milinda Siriwardana (21 not out) played a spirited innings lower down the order to guide the visitors to victory with 12 balls to spare.

(IANS)

Negi earns surprise call, Pandey ignored for World T20

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Pawan Negi

New Delhi: Young all-rounder Pawan Negi was the surprise pick for the World Twenty20 and Asia Cup while the selectors also reposed faith in veterans such as Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh in the 15-member Indian squad for the two events.

Other young players such as Jasprit Bhumrah and Hardik Pandya, who impressed in the recent series against Australia, also found a place in the squad announced by BCCI Secretary Anurag Thakur after a meeting of the selection committee here today.

“This is the best combination of 15 we can think of,” Chairman of the committee, Sandeep Patil, said in a press conference after the meeting.

Interestingly, the pace duo of Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were ignored.

Also, Manish Pandey, who featured in the T20 series against Australia, was left out of the team to be captained by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The Asia Cup is scheduled to be held in Bangladesh from February 24 to March 6, followed by the World T20 from March 8 to April 3 in India.

Patil expressed his faith in Dhoni’s leadership despite the recent mixed run.

“We have no right to tell people when to retire, we have total faith in Dhoni’s captaincy. He is the right person to lead in Asia Cup and World T20,” Patil said.

The 23-year-old Negi, who bowls left-arm spin and is a decent batsman, was rewarded for his consistent performance in the domestic circuit. That Negi will be a contender for the World Cup team had become obvious when he was selected for the three-match series against Sri Lanka this month.

Ajinkya Rahane also found a place in the squad ahead of Pandey, who hit a match-winning century in the last ODI against Australia. Pandey got his break owing to an injury to Rahane and even though he made it count, the selectors opted to go with the more experienced player.

“Manish Pandey performed exceptionally well in Australia, his name was also discussed,” Patil said.

“When selectors pick a team, we always give importance to domestic performance. It is not that we are only looking at seniors, we have looked at the performance, fitness and record of the domestic players as well. We have taken into account all the performances of not just 15-16 guys but all the domestic players and then picked these 15,” he added.

(PTI)

BCCI announces India’s T20 squad for Sri Lanka series, Kohli rested

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virat-kohli

New Delhi: Vice captain Virat Kohli was today rested for the upcoming Twenty20 series against Sri Lanka as selectors included all-rounder Pawan Negi for the three-match rubber, beginning February 9.

Kohli was in supreme form in the just-concluded Australia T20 series, where he scored 199 runs at an average of 199 with three half-centuries.

Kohli has played 10 One-dayers and five T20s apart from four Test matches from the month of October to end of January.

Roookie all-rounder Negi, who has played under MS Dhoni for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL, and had a reasonably successful Mushytaq Ali and Deodhar trophy, has been brought as a cover for Ravindra Jadeja.

Manish Pandey has also been rewarded for his match-winning century in the Sydney ODI against Australia as the selectors named him in the 15-member T20 squad.

The selection panel chose to drop Rishi Dhawan, Gurkeerat Mann and Umesh Yadav from the squad. All three had not struggled during the Australia tour, failing to put up any notable performance.

Making a comeback was paceman Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had missed the T20 series after injuring himself during the ODIs.

The selectors also named the squads for the women’s limited over series against Sri Lanka, to be led by Mithali Raj.

The series will begin in Pune (February 9) and followed by matches in Ranchi (February 12) and Visakhapatnam (February 14).

The eves had scripted history by defeating three-time world champions Australia in a T20 series, which was held simultaneously with the men’s series.

The women’s ODI series is scheduled to be played in Ranchi from February 15 to 19 while the three-match T20 series will be held from February 22-26.

Squads:

T20I Team (Men): MS Dhoni (Captain), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pawan Negi.

(PTI)

India beat Australia in second T20I to seal series

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dhoni

Melbourne: India dominated with both bat and ball to beat Australia by 27 runs in the second Twenty20 International at the Melbourne Cricket Ground here on Friday.

India rode on half-centuries from Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli to post 184/3 in their 20 overs. In reply, the Australians could only manage 157/8 despite being given a superb start by Aaron Finch.

The Indians have thus clinched the three-match series with an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja (2/32) and young pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/37) were the most successful among the Indian bowlers. Yuvraj Singh (1/7), Hardik Pandya (1/17) and Ravichandran Ashwin (1/27) also bagged a wicket each.

Chasing a challenging target, the hosts were off to a flying start with Finch going great guns. The Australian captain smashed 74 runs off 48 deliveries with eight boundaries and a couple of sixes. Shaun Marsh was going steady at the other end, scoring a run-a-ball 23.

The Australians were cruising comfortably along at 10 runs an over, but the fall of Marsh’s wicket in the 10th triggered a collapse.

Chris Lynn (2) and the dangerous Glenn Maxwell (1) were sent back by Hardik Pandya and Yuvraj Singh respectively as the Australians lost three wickets in as many overs which pegged back their momentum.

Finch and Shane Watson tried to re-build the innings, but Ravindra Jadeja sent back Watson in the 15th over with a stunning return catch off his own bowling.

Finch, who was struggling with a cramped hamstring, was run out in the next over as the Indians tightened their grip on the match.

Earlier, put in to bat by the hosts, India were provided a steady start by Rohit and Dhawan. The duo were a bit cautious in the first three overs before going after the Australian bowlers.

Rohit continued his superb form during the ongoing tour, scoring 60 runs off 47 balls with five boundaries and a six. He added 97 runs for the opening partnership along with Shikhar Dhawan (42).

Kohli walked in at the fall of Dhawan’s wicket and proceeded to build on the solid foundation provided by the openers by belting 59 runs in his 33-ball innings which included seven boundaries and a six.

Dhawan was also in excellent form, hitting three fours and two sixes during his 32-ball stay in the middle. He missed out on his maiden half-century in T20Is when a reverse sweep off Glenn Maxwell found Lynn at point.

For Australia, Maxwell had figures of 1/17 while debutant medium-pacer Andrew Tye captured the prized wicket of India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to return 1/28 in his four overs.

Rohit and Dhawan reserved special treatment for James Faulkner. Rohit hit the left-arm pacer for three boundaries in his very first over after replacing Shane Watson in the Australian attack. Dhawan then smashed a four and a six off consecutive balls in his very next over.

Dhawan’s departure did not affect the run rate as Kohli and Rohit continued to find the gaps at regular intervals. However, an unfortunate bit of mis-communication saw Rohit being run out while attempting to go for a second run.

Dhoni then gave Kohli good support from the other end with 14 runs off nine balls as the Delhi batsman signed off the Indian innings on a strong note.

(Agencies)

Bumrah, Kohli help India win 1st T20I against Australia

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viratkohli

Adelaide: A strong bowling performance, coupled with a quickfire half-century by Virat Kohli helped India to a 37-run victory over Australia in the first Twenty20 International (T20I) at the Adelaide Oval here on Tuesday.

Chasing 189, Australia started strongly before losing wickets at regular intervals to slump to 151 all out in 19.3 overs. young pacer Jasprit Bumrah had a memorable T20I debut, returning figures of 3-23 in 3.3 overs.

Ravindra Jadeja (2-21), Ravichandran Ashwin (2-28) and another debutant, Hardik Pandya (2-37) also bagged a couple of wickets each as India took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. Ashish Nehra (1-28) gave away a lot of runs in his first spell before clinching a wicket towards the end.

Earlier, Kohli stiched together a 134-run stand with Suresh Raina which brought the Indian innings back on track after the visitors had suffered a couple of early blows.

The Delhi batsman remeained unbeaten on 90 runs, smashing nine fours and two sixes during his 55-ball stint. Raina batted excellently at the other end, scoring 41 runs off 34 deliveries with three hits to the fence and a six. The duo helped India post 188/3 in their 20 overs. Kohli was adjudged the man of the match.

Captain Aaron Finch was Australia’s highest scorer with 44. He had four boundaries and a coule of sixes in his 33-ball innings.

Put in to bat by Australia, India were off to a flying start with Rohit Sharma producing the early fireworks. The Mumbai right-hander took a special liking to Shaun Tait’s bowling, hitting the pacer for a six and a four in the first over and then another couple of boundaries in the third.

With opening pacers Tait and Kane Richardson unable to control the Indian batsmen, Australia captain Aaron Finch was forced to make a bowling change, bringing James Faulkner and Shane Watson into the attack.

Faulkner was unlucky to miss out on a wicket in his opening over as a loose shot from Rohit saw the ball come off the top edge of the bat and fly towards third man where Cameron Boyce dropped a sitter.

But the disappointed home fans did not have to wait too long to celebrate as Watson struck twice in the next over. The right-armer sent back the dangerous Rohit with his very first ball as the opener drove an off-cutter straight to Faulkner at mid-on.

Watson dismissed Shikhar Dhawan just four balls later with a slower one as the Delhi batsman’s mistimed shot offered an edge to Matthew Wade behind the stumps.

That saw Kohli and Raina come together and they handled the Australian bowling with ease and by the time the partnership cam to an end in the final over, they had alrady guided the visitors to a big score.

Raina was unlucky to miss out on a half-century, and was dismissed while moving across the stumps and attempting to steer a Faulkner on the off-stump to the on-side. But the left-hander mistimed the shot as the ball went on to his the stumps.

India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni strode to the middle and brought the crowd to their feet by hitting his first two balls for a six and a four to end the Indian innings on a high note.

The Australians had strong start to their chase with openers Aaron Finch and David Warner going great guns. Although Warner departed in the sixth over after miscuing an attempted pull of Bumrah, Finch and Steven Smith found the gaps at frequent intervals to maintain a high scoring rate.

They scored 42 runs between them in just 23 deliveries before Jadeja and Ashwin struck in bac to back overs to peg back the Australians. Debutant Travis Head never looked comfortable during his five-ball stay in the middle before being trapped leg before by Jadeja.

Watson did not last long before offering skier to Nehra at short fine leg while trying to sweep an Ashwin delivery. Pandya then sent back Cris Lynn and Matthew Wade in consecutive overs to plunge Australia into deep trouble.

(IANS)

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