Glenn Maxwell recreated his World Cup heroics against Afghanistan as he single-handedly guided Australia to a five-wicket victory over India in the third T20I at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Tuesday.
Maxwell’s destructive mood spoiled the party for the Indian team in his 100th T20I game and made it even more special with an unbeaten 104 off 48 balls. He became the joint fastest Australian player to complete a century in the history of T20Is, joining Aaron Finch and Josh Inglis.
While chasing 223, Travis Head continued to ride high on confidence, picking boundaries for fun after making his return to the field of cricket since Australia’s World Cup triumph.
Opening along with Aaron Hardie, Head played the first 12 consecutive balls and struck 25 runs. Hardie struck two boundaries in leg-break spinner Ravi Bishnoi’s over.
Australia steamrolled in the first four overs amassing 46 runs. Left- arm pacer Arshdeep Singh provided the breakthrough with a swinging delivery sending Hardie back with a score of 16(12).
Avesh Khan who came in to replace Mukesh Kumar scalped his first wicket of the night dismissing the dangerous-looking Head for a score of 35(18).
Bishnoi completely bamboozled Josh Inglis with a quick googly which zipped through the gap and clipped the bails off the stumps. Glenn Maxwell arrived at the crease and smashed Prasidh Krishna all over the field to keep Australia on course of the mammoth chase.
Australia ended the first 10 overs with a score of 105/3.
Ravi Bishnoi’s leg-spin continued to cause trouble to Australia’s batters as he sent Tim David back to the pavilion for a golden duck. But from that point, Maxwell channeled his inner self that guided Australia to victory against Afghanistan in the World Cup and silenced the Indian bowling line-up with his brute strength.
Back-to-back maximums in Arshdeep’s over was the beginning of the chaos that was about to unfold in the death overs. During the calm before the storm, Suryakumar Yadav dropped Matthew Wade’s catch.
The final two overs saw Prasidh Krishna and Axar Patel combining to concede 45 runs. Prasidh had 21 runs to defend in the final over but Maxwell with his raw hitting power left the speedster with no answers. Australia clinched the victory by five wickets.
Earlier in the innings, Ruturaj Gaikwad went unbeaten, showcasing why he is touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket. After operating at a strike rate below 100 initially, the right-hander opened out in the latter half of the Indian innings, going at a strike rate of over 215.
He struck 123* off 57 balls powering India to a mammoth total of 222/3. But it was all in vain as Maxwell smashed the Indian bowlers left, right and center to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
Brief sores: India 222/3 (Rutuaj Gaikwad 123(57), Suryakumar Yadav 39; Kane Richardson 1-34) vs Australia 225/5 (Glenn Maxwell 104, Travis Head 35; Ravi Bishnoi 2-32).7