The first T20I of the three-match series between Australia and India is being played at Manuka Oval in Canberra. Aaron Finch won the toss and chose to chase.
India gave T20I debut to T Natarajan, as India batted first. Shikhar Dhawan was cleaned up by Mitchell Starc for 1, while Kohli’s struggles against leg-spin continued as he was dismissed by Mitchell Swepson for 9 runs.
KL Rahul (51) and Sanju Samson (23) added 38 runs for the third wicket, as Australia tied the Indian batsmen down with great bowling. Hardik Pandya also fell trying to push the net run-rate up for 16 runs.
AUS v IND 2020-21: WATCH- T Natarajan receives his T20I cap on debut from Jasprit Bumrah
However, Ravindra Jadeja took it upon himself to get India to a decent total, which could be defended. He slammed one six and two fours off one Josh Hazlewood over, basically batting on one leg, after injuring his hamstring. He made 44* in 23 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes, taking India to 161/7 in 20 overs.
Moises Henriques was the best Australian bowler with 3/22 in 4 overs. Starc picked two wickets, while the leg-spin duo of Zampa and Swepson picked one wicket each.
The cricket fraternity reacted on Twitter to a disciplined Australian bowling and courageous batting from both Rahul and Jadeja.
Here are the tweets:
