Rinku holds his nerve to guide India through after late implosion

Josh Inglis smashed his maiden T20I century, but Suryakumar Yadav responded masterfully in his captaincy debut to lift India past Australia in a tense series opener.

Just four days after being part of Australia’s World Cup title, Inglis tore apart a new-look India attack in batting friendly conditions in Visakhapatnam with 110 off 50 balls. He dominated a second-wicket partnership of 130 with Steven Smith, who made 52 and was the only other Australia player fronting up from the World Cup final.

But Suryakumar also shrugged off World Cup weariness with a belligerent 80 off 42 balls. There was a late twist after Suryakumar’s dismissal with India losing a slew of wickets and they needed one run off the final delivery.

But Rinku Singh calmly bludgeoned a six off seamer Sean Abbott, who had delivered a no-ball, as India drew first blood in the five-match series.

The tight scheduling of this series has been widely mocked and underscored by both teams fielding second-string teams. But with the T20 World Cup just over six months away, there was plenty at stake for a number of players.

Smith and Inglis had points to prove. Smith has openly stated his desire to bat at the top having auditioned for the role late in last season’s BBL and peeling off consecutive centuries.

Opening a T20I for the first time, Smith relished a grassless surface and quick outfield with three boundaries through the off-side in his first eight deliveries. But he was completely overtaken by a rampaging Inglis, who came in at No.3 after the wicket of opener Matthew Short in the fifth over. Playing as a specialist batter, with skipper Matthew Wade taking the gloves, Inglis hit a boundary off his first ball and didn’t slow down from there.

He toyed with the quicks and spinners by unleashing his full range of strokes around the wicket. Inglis’ superb knock was highlighted by pinpoint placement, while he showcased a liking to get deep into his crease and hit over extra cover.

Having reached his century off 47 balls, Inglis equalled Aaron Finch’s record that had been set a decade ago.

After a remarkable lapped reverse to the boundary from Inglis, all Suryakumar could do was grin. It was a tough initiation for Suryakumar, who was captaining India for the first time having been in charge of Mumbai 36 times across formats in domestic cricket.

He was proactive and rotated his bowlers in the powerplay, getting spinners Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi into the attack. But nothing worked amid Inglis’ onslaught as Suyakumar resorted to giving his team a pep talk during the drinks break.

Things could have been more grim had it not been for seamer Mukesh Kumar, who bowled superbly at the death.

Suryakumar did not enjoy batting on a slow Ahmedabad surface in the World Cup final. He was unable to do much against Australia’s clever tactics of bowling slower bouncers.  Suryakumar much preferred this harder surface, while facing up to a second-string Australia attack. He hit two sixes off his first six balls to get India back on track after the early wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was run out without facing a delivery.

On such a flat surface, Australia didn’t revert often to their slower ball bouncer tactic, but Suryakumar almost holed out on one such delivery bowled by left-arm quick Jason Behrendorff.

He was well supported by wicket-keeper-batter Ishan Kishan,  who only played in two early games at the World Cup. They slammed a 112-run partnership with Suryakumar taking over after the wicket of Kishan with a trademark assault to all corners of the ground. He also overcame cramps in what proved to be a memorable captaincy debut.

With Adam Zampa resting, legspinner Tanveer Sangha had his opportunity after not being used during the World Cup. It loomed as a baptism of fire with Sangha copping a thumping from Kishan in the ninth over. Wade boldly reintroduced Sangha four overs later with Kishan and Suryakumar well set.

But Kishan could only hit straight to deep extra cover after Sangha changed his line and Wade decided to stick with him for the 15th over. Sangha repaid the faith by removing Tilak Varma with a googly to finish with 2 for 47 from 4 overs.

Brief scores:
Australia 208/3 in 20 overs (Steven Smith 52, Josh Inglis 110, Tim Dvid 19*; Prasid Krishna 1-50, Ravi Bishnoi 1-54) lost to India 209/8 in 19.5 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 21, Ishan Kishan 58, Suryakumar Yadav 80, Rinku Singh 22*; Tanveer Sangha 2-47, Jason Behrendroff 1-25, Mathew Short 1-13, Sean Abott 1-43) by two wickets

(Cricinfo)