In the opening Twenty20 International at Visakhapatnam, India won the toss and invited Australia to bat first on a respectable batting strip. Australia set India a target of 209, led by Josh Inglis’s 110 from 50 and Steve Smith’s 52 from 41.
Even though Yashasvi Jaiswal got off to a fast start, India was soon in danger at 22/2 in the third over. With an impressive partnership of 112 runs from 60 balls, captain Suryakumar Yadav and veteran Kishan then restored India’s position in the game.
This quickly established a solid foundation for India and meant that, in spite of late lulls, Rinku Singh’s fireworks led his team to victory by two wickets.
Kishan revealed that he had strategized the takedown of rookie spinner Tanveer Tanveer
In remarks made following the match, Kishan disclosed that he had planned the defeat of inexperienced spinner Tanveer Tanveer. The southpaw claimed that his understanding of the wicket’s characteristics was enhanced by having kept on it for 20 overs.
“During the World Cup, when I wasn’t playing I asked myself before every practice session, ‘What is important for me now? What could I do?’”, Kishan said. “I practised a lot in nets“.
“I was constantly talking to the coaches about the game. How to take the game deep, and how to target certain bowlers. Being a lefty against a leg-spinner, I know how the wicket was as I had kept for 20 overs. When you are chasing 209, you need to target a bowler, who you can hit.”
Kishan believed his stand with Suryakumar brought India back into the game.
“A partnership was very important as we had lost two early wickets,” Kishan said. “I’ve played with Surya bhai. We are in the same IPL team so I know how he bats. We were constantly communicating about which bowler to target or how we are going to rotate the strike. The way we executed our plans in the middle, that was the time when I thought we are in the game.”
In the five-game T20I series, India is up 1-0. The two sides’ next meeting is scheduled for November 26 in Thiruvananthapuram.
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