Natarajan, Hardik Shine as India Win T20I Series Against Australia
Natarajan was pick of the Indian bowlers as the left-armer returned with magnificent figures of 2/20.
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T Natarajan and Hardik Pandya did what they do best in a cricket field as India won the second T20I game against Australia by 6 wickets and with that took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series in Sydney. It also marks the first time since 2016 that India have managed to beat Australia in a T20I series home or away.
Australia were forced to make plenty of changes to their side with captain Aaron Finch and Mitchell Starc being the latest to drop out. While Finch hadn’t recovered from an injury, Starc had withdrawn on compassionate grounds. Australia posted a very competitive 194/5 but a half century from Shikhar Dhawan and then a brutal attack by Pandya (44* off 22 deliveries) in the final overs helped India storm over the line.
Despite missing the likes of Finch and David Warner at the top of the order, Australia started off well as stand-in-captain Matthew Wade took the attack to India early on. Wade smashed ten boundaries and a six during a 32-ball-58 which left Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar and Washington Sundar rattled.
As soon as Kohli turned to Natarajan in the fifth over, he responded with D’Arcy Short’s wicket. At the other end, Wade continued with his aggressive ways and reached his half century off just 25 balls.
However, his innings came to a strange end as he was run-out by Kohli, who dropped a sitter before recovering to dismiss Wade, who was stranded mid pitch after a bit of miscommunication with Smith.
Glenn Maxwell and Smith then hit some powerful blows and added 45 runs to the Australian scoreboard before Maxwell got out after scoring 22 off 13.
Smith then joined forces with Moises Henriques and the duo stitched 48 runs off 31 balls to take the team's score past 150.
Yuzvendra Chahal, who was the player of the match in the first T20I, castled Smith who was caught at long-off boundary in the 18th over of the innings. Chahal though did not have a good day and conceded 1/51 from his 4 overs.
Henriques became Natarajan's second scalp as he was caught behind by KL Rahul after scoring 26 off 18. Marcus Stoinis towards the end played a nice cameo of 16 off 7 as the hosts finished their innings at 194/5. Natarajan was pick of the Indian bowlers as the left-armer returned with magnificent figures of 2/20 in his four overs.
In response, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul started off well and India were quickly away. Rahul departed for 30 off 22 deliveries while trying to go big against Andrew Tye in the final over of the powerplay.
Dhawan and Kohli kept things steady but found scoring a little difficult shortly after the powerplay. The left hander went on to complete a good half century but could not kick on and was dismissed by Adam Zampa. The duo had put on 39 runs for the second wicket and Sanju Samson added another 15 off 10 with a couple of lusty blows.
After Dhawan’s dismissal, Kohli took charge and produced a few majestic shots, including an AB-esque scoop over fine leg for a six off Andrew Tye. A couple of sixes and a couple of boundaries helped add 40 to the cause before Daniel Sams had him edging a wide bouncer to the keeper.
Shreyas Iyer joined Hardik Pandya in the middle with the contest on a knife edge and the duo were watchful to start with before using teeing off in style. Iyer took Zampa to the cleaners while Hardik smashed Tye and Sams into the crowd with absolute ease to help seal the series.
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