Australia’s wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis entered the history books with a 110-run knock against India in the first T20I of the five-T20I series in Visakhapatnam. Inglis became the first wicketkeeper-batter to score a century against India in T20Is. He equalled Aaron Finch’s record for the fastest T20I century for Australia.
The previous record for the highest individual score against India as wicketkeeper-batter belonged to former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum. The Kiwi batter had scored 91 runs from 55 balls against the MS Dhoni-led side in Chennai. New Zealand ended up winning the nail-biting affair by just one run in Chennai.
The previous-best score against India by an Australian wicketkeeper-batter belonged to current skipper Matthew Wade who scored 80 in Adelaide last year.
In the absence of Travis Head, Inglis walked out to bat at no.3 after Suryakumar Yadav won the toss and opted to field first on his captaincy debut.
Inglis is the fifth Australian batter to score a T20I century after Finch, Glenn Maxwell, Shane Watson, and David Warner. He is also the third Australian batter to score a T20I century against India.
Inglis' 47-ball hundred is also the second-fastest against India in T20Is. South Africa's David Miller holds the record as he achieved the feat from 46 balls in Guwahati in 2022.
He shared a 130-run partnership with Steve Smith who opened the innings. This is the second-highest partnership for Australia against India in the format.
Inglis pushed the scoring rate while Smith played the anchor role. He completed his half-century with a six off Ravi Bishnoi in the 12th over from 29 deliveries. In the 15th over, he hit Bishnoi for three sixes. He punished Arshdeep Singh with four boundaries in the 17th over. He got to his maiden T20I century from 47 balls.
The 28-year-old’s whirlwind knock came to an end in the 18th over of the innings. Prasidh Krishna who conceded 50 runs from his quota of four overs took his wicket. He scored 110 runs from 50 balls featuring 11 fours and eight sixes.
Apart from Inglis, Smith scored 52 runs from 41 balls before getting run out in the 16th over. Later, Tim David's 12-ball 19 helped Australia post 208/3 on the board.
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