India vs Australia 2018: Things Have Not Gone Our Way But We Know We Are A Good Side: Marcus Stoinis
Nov 27, 2018 at 4:05 PM
Australia allrounder expressed his delight after the hosts beat India by four runs in the first T20I to go one nil up in the three-match series.
Not many would have put their money on Australia before the start of the game. Both India and Australia had entered the game on the back of contrasting fortunes.
While India entered the game on the back of a thumping series win over reigning T2o World champions Windies, Australia lost to South Africa at home. Prior to that, the team from Down Under had suffered a crushing 3-0 loss at the hands of Pakistan at UAE. With Steve Smith and David Warner also not in the team due to the bans and India flying high, Aaron Finch & Co. had a big task ahead of them.
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And the hosts manage to come out of the test with flying colours, beating India by 4 runs to go one nil up in the three-match series.
Asked to bat first, Australia were off to a shaky start, losing D’Arcy Short cheaply. However, Aaron Finch (27), Chris Lynn (37), Glenn Maxwell (46) and Marcus Stoinis (33) played handy knocks to guide Australia to 158 for 4 in 17 overs before rain intervened. Australia did not bat again as India got a revised target of 173 in 17 overs.
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In reply, India too were off to a poor start. They lost in-form opener Rohit Sharma for just 7. However, Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul shared a 46-run stand to steady the ship. But just when it looked India would take control of the game, Adam Zampa changed the course of the game by taking two wickets.
The leg-spinner first broke the stand between Dhawan and Rahul by dismissing the latter. He then scalped for big fish Virat Kohli (4) to put Australia well on top. Dhawan went on to score a blazing fifty while Rishabh Pant and Dinesh Karthik played quickfire knocks but the hosts managed to win the game by 4 runs.
Marcus Stoinis played a key role in the win. After impressing with the bat, he defended 13 runs easily with the ball to help Australia end their four-match losing streak in T20Is.
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Speaking after the game, he recalled the memories of last year when Australia were in brilliant form in T20Is.
“We have got good memories in the team. W dominated T20s last year. And we were in good form not so long ago. Obviously, things have not gone our way but we know we are still a good side,” said Stoinis.
Talking about his batting effort, Stoinis said: “It was good fun. They showed faith in me at number five. We were focussed on a building a partnership and we got that.”
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Stoinis had added 78 runs with Maxwell that changed the course of the game and fired the hosts to a competitive total.
On the bowling front, he added:
“In this particular game there were longer boundaries. Also wind conditions were tricky. We were trying to bowl yorkers but they ended up being beamers. So it is something we are working on.”
The second T20 of the three-match series will be played in Melbourne on Friday.4
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