IND vs AUS 3rd T20I : Today I Learnt - Matthew 'Explosive' Wade, Natarajan's great rise and India's spin headache

IND vs AUS 3rd T20I : Today I Learnt - Matthew 'Explosive' Wade, Natarajan's great rise and India's spin headache

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Wade was the star of the Aussie batting

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Despite a valiant fifty by Virat Kohli, who looked set to win India a difficult chase, they fell short of the target as they lost Hardik Pandya and captain Kohli at crucial junctures. KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer, and Sanju Samson failed with the bat yet again while for Aussies, Swepson stood out.

Matthew 'Explosive' Wade throws his hat into the ring

While one can argue whether Chahal was a like-for-like replacement for Jadeja or not, Matthew Wade has certainly been a like-for-like replacement for David Warner at the top. Playing D'Arcy Short in the first T20I and not playing Wade as the opener in the last ODI was proven wrong in an emphatic style by the aggressive southpaw. T20 cricket has a big role for match-ups and an off-spinner bowling to a left-hander is very well exploited by the bowling teams but Wade had the measure of an accurate Washington Sundar, who was put under immense pressure and dealt rather easily, giving a cue to other openers how to counter him in the powerplay. When Deepak Chahar was in his element today, swinging the ball both ways, Wade was able to get boundaries off his overs too by counter-attacking him. Wade hammered 47 off 24 and 34 off 23 in powerplay overs this series and overall, made scores of 58 and 80 to stamp his authority and throw his hat for a T20 World Cup spot. 

Thangarasu Natarajan is a cut above the rest

India have tried a bunch of pacers in T20Is but barring Jasprit Bumrah, no one has quite emerged as a sure shot starter in the team. Shami has been good but his death bowling has always been dodgy. But Thangarasu Natarajan has emerged as a strong contender to become India's second pacer. The biggest question around Natarajan was how would he manage bowling in the first 15 overs as his only Yorkers have been his strong suit. But, he has done an exceptional job and has shown that he's not a one-trick pony. Even today, he gave away just 11 runs in the first two overs and had the dangerman Wade plumb in-front of the wicket and would have got him if not for the delayed DRS review. He has been able to mix his lengths and pace aptly, no wonder he was trusted as the team's go-to-man in his debut series. He ended as the most economical Indian bowler today as well, taking the crucial Maxwell wicket at an important time and has six wickets in the series with an economy of 6.91, the best for Indian bowlers.

India have a spin headache 

One of the biggest problems with India since the start of 2019 has been the fact that spin bowlers have not quite been able to strike consistently in T20Is. And with Yuzvendra Chahal fizzling out in the last two games after a brilliant first T20I, the problem is staring India right into the eyes and asking for solutions. Chahal went wicket-less today and gave away 41 runs in his four overs while he had figures of 1/51 in the last game. It's not just about two games, this year, the leg-spinner has seven wickets in eight games at an economy of 8.90. Sundar did pick up two wickets today but that's about it, he could only take two wickets in the whole series. Since the start of 2019, Chahal has 15 wickets in 18 games with an economy of 9.01, Sundar has 11 wickets in 19 games and Jadeja has eight scalps in 10 matches. And this is one issue that India would like to address going into the T20 World Cup.

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