Kohli stars as India down Australia in first T20

ADELAIDE: Virat Kohli struck a brilliant 90 not out as India drew first blood in the three-match Twenty20 series when they beat Australia by 37 runs at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday.

After Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and sent the visitors in to bat on both countries’ national day, the Indians smashed their way to 188 for three thanks to Kohli’s dominating innings.

The Australians started their run chase full of purpose, at one stage scoring at 11 runs an over. But once they lost David Warner (17), Aaron Finch (44) and Steve Smith (21) they never looked like chasing down the total.

Indian spinners Ravi Ashwin (2-28) and Ravindra Jadeja (2-21) proved the difference between the two teams as the Australian batsmen struggled to keep up the pace.

After the impressive paceman Jasprit Bumrah had Warner caught at mid-on, Smith and Finch scored freely until Jadeja had Smith caught at mid-off by Kohli.

Ashwin then trapped Finch leg before and when Jadeja dismissed newcomer Travis Head the same way in the next over, Australia were 93-4.

Shane Watson (12) and Chris Lynn (17) both fell trying to lift the scoring rate and the remaining batsmen put up little resistance.

“I think it was a good game,” said Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni. “I think we batted really well, we got those extra runs and also the bowling was good.

“It was good to see our bowlers making the batsmen play the big shot because you can really put pressure on them that way.

“If you see the Aussie batting line-up, more often than not the only way you can beat them when they are chasing is by taking wickets.”

Earlier, Kohli smashed his 90 runs from just 55 balls, hitting nine fours and two sixes.

“Everything came together nicely and it was good to get that win under the belt,” man-of-the-match Kohli said.

He was given good support from recalled batsman Suresh Raina (41), with the pair putting on 134 for the third wicket.

Rohit Sharma got the visitors away to a lightning start, hitting 31 from 20 balls before he mistimed a pull shot off Watson and was caught at mid-on by James Faulkner.

Watson had the other opener Shikhar Dhawan (5) caught by wicket-keeper Matthew Wade two balls later to leave the Indians on 41 for two. But Kohli and Raina were untroubled until Raina was bowled by Faulkner in the final over.

Dhoni came to the crease and hit a six and a four from his first two balls to take India to what proved a winning total.

Finch said the Australians had no one but themselves to blame.

“We let ourselves down in the field and obviously an unbelievable innings by Virat – he’s hard to stop when he gets going,” Finch said. “At the end of the day we have eight genuine batsmen and we back ourselves to chase, but it just wasn’t to be.”

Scoreboard

INDIA:

R.G. Sharma c Faulkner b Watson 31

S. Dhawan c Wade b Watson 5

V. Kohli not out 90

S.K. Raina b Faulkner 41

M.S. Dhoni not out 11

EXTRAS (LB-3 W-7) 10

TOTAL (for three wkts, 20 overs) 188

FALL OF WKTS: 1-40, 2-41, 3-175.

DID NOT BAT: Yuvraj Singh, H.H. Pandya,

R.A. Jadeja, R. Ashwin, J.J. Bumrah, A. Nehra.