Australia edge India in the first T20I match in a last-ball thriller in Visakhapatnam

Australia and India had something similar in their batting effort in the first T20I at Vizag; both had one strong partnership and the end of it brought about a collapse. But the difference in the end turned out to be the tail, with Australia’s lower order doing enough to chase down the below-par 127 run total. The Aussies got home on the last ball to win the first T20I and hand India their first T20I loss at home in eight matches.

Put into bat, KL Rahul’s half-century on comeback had India cruising but another middle order collapse meant India were restricted to just 126/7 in 20 overs. From a comfortable 80 for two in 9.5 overs, India lost four wickets for 20 runs by the 15th over to be reduced to 100 for six.

Jasprit Bumrah’s penultimate over with just two runs and two wickets turned the game on its head and India looked to be headed towards an unlikely win. But Umesh Yadav’s expensive final over undid all that hard work to hand Australia the win. 

With 127 needed to win and Maxwell in glorious touch, Yuzvendra Chahal struck to dismiss the set Aussie for 56 runs from 43 balls. 

It was following his dismissal that Australia lost their nerve with D'Arcy Short getting run out to a mixup. Ashton Turner, Peter Handscomb and Nathan Coulter-Nile fell for single digits and suddenly India looked to be in the ascendency. 

But, Jhye Richardson and Pat Cummins kept their calm to give Australia a 1-0 lead in the two match T20I series which will be followed by five ODIs.