Sydney : This tall, lanky guy called Hardik Pandya finishes off a game with his blistering 22-ball 42 knock and says post-match that he was figuring out which bat to bat with….and it was during the pressuresome moment a high-scoring run chase. That’s how cool the all-rounder is while chasing targets. India required 14 off the last one and it took just two biggies and few more to finish it off for Hardik.

lets talk about the beginning of the match when Virat decided to chase after winning the toss and Australia came out to bat. Matthew Wade was their stand-in captain replacing an injured Finch and he left no stone unturned to prove his worth as an opener. He extracted 13 runs from the first over and there was no looking back from there. Even Washington Sundar who is India’s most economical bowler in recent times got a taste of Wade’s sweeps and pulls. The other opener, D’arcy Short departed in the fifth over but there was no stopping this man untill Virat dramatically dropped a sitter at mid-off while he was batting and Wade ended up walking back without realising the catch was not taken. Amidst that, he was run out by Virat himself.

The pitch was a belter which was evident from the ODI’s played at the venue and with short boundaries on one side of the ground there’s nothing that the bowlers could do. All the Aussie batsmen contributed to post an above par 194-5. They ended up 10-15 runs short but the credit for that goes to Natarajan who was the only bowler for the Indians who’s figures were miserly and rewarding. He finished his spell of four overs where he claimed 2 wickets and gave just a meagre 20 runs, excellent!

Image courtesy @cricketaustralia

India had a steep run chase in sight but the statistics proved to favour India as batting second at the SCG, since 2017 yielded a 68% win chance. Dhawan and Rahul provided the start that India needed to conquer the target as they raced to 56 for no loss at the end of the fifth over. Then, while the spinners were bowling in tandem the run-rate increased and that was when Dhawan lost his wicket along with Samson. The onus was now on Virat and Hardik to take the team home.

Virat played a scoop shot that went all the way for a six over the fine-leg fielder who was inside the ring and I swear to god if you weren’t a Kohli fan before the shot you would become one after watching him execute it. He premeditated the delivery was going to be wide and full from Tye so he went across the stumps and sat on one knee to see it sail over fine-leg into the stands. The range of shots he posesses as a modern batsman who prefers to play the classical way is unbelievable.

trivia : According to shot-type data this was the first scoop shot that Kohli has played in T20 cricket. (@cricvizanalyst)

Virat was dismissed chasing a wide bouncer after he made 40 runs and it seemed like that over, was the over where he was about to switch gears. India still required 37 from the last three overs with Iyer and Hardik as the last recognized batting pair at the crease. Zampa bowled the 17th during which a huge six by Iyer over mid-wicket and a boundary through covers switched the momentum in India’s favour and after that, the rest of the match was ruled by Hardik.

Two slashing boundaries on the off-side by Hardik took India to the final over needing 14 runs. The rest of the story was mentioned earlier and there’s no need to say what happened later considering Hardik’s dangerous presence in the last over.

India seal the series by a margin of 2-0 with the third match yet to be played. Thanks for reading this article and stay tuned for the next one.