India and Australia are competing in a three-match T20I series and the second match happened in Nagpur on Friday. It was a rain-interrupted one and the umpires decided to reduce the overs to eight per side. Indian skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to field first.
Australian skipper Aaron Finch got off to a flier while the Baggy Greens lost two wickets in the second over. While the other batters struggled to keep going, the skipper kept toying with bowlers from India. Tim David, who entered the field amid huge expectations, failed to roar for the Baggy Greens.
At the end of four overs, Australia amassed 41 for the loss of four wickets on board. With just four overs left, Matthew Wade stood up to the occasion to lift the team up yet again after the fall of the skipper. The final over from Harshal Patel turned out to be a costly one as he conceded three maximums.
Matthew Wade remained unbeaten for a well-made 43 off twenty balls to help Australia reach a total of 90 runs.
India stun the Australian bowlers
If one has to comment on India’s batting, one has to speak about Rohit Sharma. The Indian skipper, who has failed to emulate his best of late, rose up at the right moment. The crowd went berserk seeing the Indian skipper do the wonder yet again for team India.
Rohit hit two maximums in the very first over off Josh Hazlewood. This set the momentum for the Men in Blue, who bet on it for the rest of the innings. Meanwhile, KL Rahul, the opener at the other end, perished for just ten runs. The star from India, Virat Kohli, who recently scored a century, crumbled for just eleven runs.
However, fans witnessed a different version of Rohit Sharma as he kept finding maximums pretty easily. Dinesh Karthik, who entered the field with just seven balls to spare, did the magic for India yet again. Men in Blue required nine runs off the final over and the batter from Tamil Nadu finished it with a six and a four off the final over to help India clinch the win.
India levelled the series with a win in the second T20I, and Hyderabad will host the decider.
Let’s take a look at some of the Twitter reactions from Indian fans:
Images that don't need to show who the bowler was 💥🇮🇳#INDvsAUS #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/licoLx8J0o
— Anuj Nitin Prabhu (@APTalksCricket) September 24, 2022
Only bowler apart from Bumrah who gives some kind of confidence in this squad right now is #axarpatel #INDvsAUS
— Wanderer (@DisDatNothin) September 24, 2022
Hitman’s blitzkrieg last night !!
— Kishore Kumar (@kishore_rsc) September 24, 2022
Vintage @ImRo45 is back!!#RohitSharma𓃵 #Hitman #INDvsAUS #INDvsAUS2ndT20
#INDvsAUS Yesterday's match proved that shorter the format better the players performance. @BCCI should come up with a super over league where each team gets to play 1 over. It fits with formats getting shorter as the game evolves. Test⏩Odi⏩T20⏩T10. Super over league is next.
— Chandan Hemmanur (@ChandanHemmanu1) September 24, 2022
Thankfully there was no 19th over in yesterday's match...#INDvsAUS
— Aspirant💫 (@imMtomar) September 24, 2022
Another day another special inning from Indian captain. Take a bow @ImRo45. #INDvsAUS .
— Avi (@Avi_Rohitian) September 24, 2022
Congratulations Team India for 2nd t20 match Against Australia.
— Arif Niazai (@Arif_Niazai12) September 24, 2022
love from Afghanistan @ImRo45 #INDvsAUS #RohitSharma #RohitSharma𓃵
ArshDeep Singh>>>>>>>> Harshal Patel#INDvsAUST20 #INDvsAUS
— SagarS(KLR) (@KapilSagars) September 24, 2022
@ImRo45 - 35 yrs and @DineshKarthik -37 yrs won the so called youngster's game of cricket for India 🇮🇳 @BCCI #quality #class #experience #dk #RohitSharma𓃵 #Hitman #DineshKarthik #cricket #indiancricket #IndVsAus
— Curious Banda (@curious_bandaa) September 24, 2022
Also a huge praise to Rohit Sharma. He stood like a pillar from the other end and led team India to win with a fine captaincy innings.
— O ' Range true lover Ram ❤ (@cherryfan341) September 24, 2022
Hitman is so back. 😎#RohitSharma𓃵 #Hitman #INDvAUS #INDvsAUS pic.twitter.com/QeUjCwn0GL pic.twitter.com/3XxRiz5Dzo