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Australian captain Matthew Wade defended his bowlers after they lost the thrilling encounter to hosts India on a batting paradise of a wicket in Visakhapatnam. Wade felt that his bowlers could not execute the yorkers but said the conditions made it tough for them to stop Indian batters. While he lauded Josh Inglis for helping post a fighting total on the board with his maiden T20I ton, he admitted that the Indian youngsters handled the pressure of the run chase as they play in such situations in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“It was a good match in the end. Inglis got us a score we thought we could defend but the Indians came hard at us. These young Indians play a lot of IPL and T20 cricket. Thought we bowled pretty well, just couldn’t nail our yorkers, easier said than done especially on a small ground like this,” Wade said in the post-match presentation.
Wade also heaped praises on Nathan Ellis who conceded just seven runs in the penultimate over by keeping Axar Patel quiet. After Suryakumar Yadav’s wicket in the 18th over, Ellis and Sean Abbott took the game to the final delivery.
“Lot of positives to take out from this game. Inglis was class. We thought we did fairly well, Ellis bowled a big over for us to take it into the final over, it went down to the last ball so it shows how close it was,” Wade added.
It was Rinku Singh who held on to his nerves and took India over the line. He smashed a six off the final ball of the match but it was not counted as Abbott overstepped and bowled a no ball.
Earlier, Wade rested Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, and Adam Zampa for the first game of the series. Steve Smith opened the innings and scored a half-century. Playing at no.3, Inglis smashed the joint-fastest T20I century for Australia. Later, Tim David’s cameo helped Australia post 208/3 on the board.
In reply, India lost their openers early but Suryakumar and Kishan's half-centuries took them to the doorstep of victory which was followed by drama in the last two overs.
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