Super Sixes SRL | India vs Australia evaluation chart - Maxwell, Starc too hot to handle as Australia crush India
Australia crush India in SRL
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An unbeaten 69 from Glenn Maxwell and an astonishing five-wicket haul from Mitchell Starc carved through the Indians as Australia bludgeoned their way to a dominant 56-run victory. After conceding 163, Virat Kohli, who scored 44, was the only Indian batsman who put up a fight.
Match Review
There are certain days when you go ‘uh oh’ after seeing a team make the wrong decision at the toss and today felt like one such day for India, as the Men in Blue were instantly made to pay for their decision to bowl first by Finch and Warner. However, after conceding 50 off the first 6 overs, India fought back in style to choke the Aussies in the middle overs, sending all three off Warner, Finch, and Smith back to the hut in quick succession, but a thunderous cameo from Maxwell ensured that the Kangaroos got to a decent total of 163.
Chasing 164, disaster struck for India in the very first over, losing Rohit Sharma to Mitchell Starc, and that turned out to be the order of play for the rest of the powerplay overs as by the end of the sixth over, the Men in Blue were reduced to 26/4. While Kohli looked to fight, fending off the Aussie threat, he, unfortunately, got no support from any batsman and eventually, after the Indian skipper perished for a fighting 44, the Men in Blue were knocked over for just 108.
You can check out the scorecard and Match Tracker here.
Turning Point
With the score 128/3 at the end of the 18th over, India had Australia by the scruff of the neck, but when it mattered, instead of choking the Kangaroos, the Blues just let the Aussies break free. The last two overs of Australia’s innings yielded 35 runs and after threatening to finish with a 140-ish score, Aaron Finch’s men, within the blink of an eye, thrust their way to a 160-plus total. A drastic momentum shift, if there was ever any.
Highs and Lows
I wanted to rave about Maxwell but well, Mitchell Starc’s outrageous spell won me over mid-way into the second innings. A spell of 5/12 against the best batting side in the world? Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. But you know what the best part about Starc’s spell was? He did not just feast on tail-enders - four of his five wickets were top-order batsmen. Wasim Akram, eat your heart out!
Virat Kohli’s innings today was so dull that it made self-isolation inside the confines of my home look like a DJ Party in Goa. And no, I’m not blaming him for it. He did his best by being the last man standing for the Indian side, but his knock was just so dull and underwhelming that it almost saddened the viewing experience. 44 off 48 in a T20 game with one boundary? Do me a favour!
Rating Charts
Powerplay exploitation: Australia 8/10 and India 2/10
The Aussies, right from the word go, used Virat Kohli’s own medicine against him: intent. Both Warner and Finch were quick off the blocks and whilst treating the Indian bowlers with respect, they also ensured that they constantly kept the scoreboard ticking. Despite playing 14 dot balls, the two batters nullified that count by hitting seven boundaries, thus finishing at a healthy 50/1 at the end of the sixth over.
For India, the powerplay overs were filled with sorrow, sorrow and more sorrow. After losing Rohit on just the fifth ball of the innings, they lost Rahul, Iyer, and Pant within the first 34 balls of the chase, almost voluntarily handing over the match to the Aussies right then and there. 26/4 is what they ended up with eventually, in the powerplay. The less spoken about their performance, the better, I suppose.
Middle-overs manoeuvring: Australia 4/10 and India 5/10
The Aussies, for some weird reason, love goofing it up in the middle overs and today was no different. They say that playing spin is usually in a batsman’s blood and that it can’t be taught and the Kangaroos’ display today served as a testament to that statement. Jadeja and Chahal escaped with figures of 7-0-43-2, despite Finch and Warner having set the perfect platform for middle-order batsmen to exploit. No, I’m not going to talk about Mitchell Marsh’s 34-ball 35. We’ll skip that part.
India were better than Australia in the middle-overs, yes, but that’s not really something to be proud of. Of course, when you consider their dreadful powerplay (26/4), their middle-over performance (52/2) looks 10/10 but in all honesty, it was just Kohli trying to protect his wicket in an attempt to stretch the game. At no point did the Indians even try to put the Australian bowlers on the back-foot. In fact, both the teams, during this phase, were more than happy to go through the motions.
Death bowling: India 3/10 and Australia 9/10
Inexcusable is the word to describe India’s death-bowling performance today. It was a tale of two halves - the first three overs were a 10/10 display and the last two were an ugly zero. After working so goddamn hard for 18 overs, Saini and Bumrah ended up conceding THIRTY FIVE off the last two, with Maxwell scoring 26 runs off the last six balls he faced. What a let-down!
At the start of the 16th over, India were already on their knees, waiting for Australia to finish them off and the Aussies did just that. That they needed 28 balls to take the final four Indian wickets was excruciating from a viewer’s perspective, but they did do the job and with elan, conceding just 29 runs at the death before knocking the Indian tail over.
Match Frenzy O Meter - Bad
Overall, it was an average match which had the odd moments of frenzy - be it the Maxwell blitz towards the end or the Mitchell Starc spell. Those two moments aside, it was a boring, one-sided contest which dragged on way longer than it should have.
