On Sunday (24 February), the visiting side Australia won the thrilling first T20I against the host India at Visakhapatnam. With this victory, Australia has taken the 1-0 lead in the two-match T20I series with one to go.
After Australia won the toss and asked the hosts to bat first, India managed to score just 126/7 in 20 overs. In reply, the visiting side chased down the target on the last ball of the match after losing seven wickets.
Brief Score: India – 126/7 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 50, MS Dhoni 29*; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3/26)
Australia – 127/7 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 56, D’Arcy Short 37; Jasprit Bumrah 3/16)
Result – Australia won by three wickets
Here are some of the statistical highlights of the match:
(1st innings)
KL Rahul
i) Indian opener KL Rahul scored 50 runs in this match.
- KL Rahul became the second Indian opener to score a T20I half-century against Australia on the Indian soil. The first Indian opener was Gautam Gambhir who scored 63 runs at Mumbai (Brabourne Stadium) on 20 October 2007.
ii) KL Rahul played his seventh 50+ innings in T20I career.
- KL Rahul is the sixth Indian batsman to play seven or more 50+ innings in T20I career.
| Player | No.of 50+ innings in T20I career |
| Rohit Sharma | 20 |
| Virat Kohli | 19 |
| Shikhar Dhawan | 9 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 8 |
| Gautam Gambhir | 7 |
| KL Rahul | 7 |
MS Dhoni
iii) Indian wicketkeeper MS Dhoni played this T20I match at the age of 37 years and 232 days.
- MS Dhoni is the oldest wicketkeeper-batsman to play a home T20I match. He breaks Naseem Khushi’s (Oman) record who played the home T20I match at the age of 36 years and 190 days (against Scotland at Al Amerat on 17 February 2019).
- Overall, MS Dhoni remains as the second oldest wicketkeeper-batsman to play a T20I match. The record holder is Sultan Ahmed (Oman) with the age of 39 years and 216 days.
iv) Indian wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni played the unbeaten knock of 29 off 37 balls with the help of only over-boundary.
- It was MS Dhoni’s lowest score from the boundaries (six runs) in a T20I innings when he faced 30 or more balls. His previous lowest was two boundaries (eight runs) against New Zealand (28* off 30 balls) at Wellington on 27 February 2009.
India
v) India managed to score 126/7 in 20 overs.
- It was India’s third lowest completed T20I total against Australia. The top two in this list are 74 (17.3 overs) and 118 (20 overs) at Melbourne (1 February 2008) and Guwahati (10 October 2017) respectively.
- It was India’s fourth-lowest T20I total when they batted full 20 overs.
| Total | Opposition | Venue | Date |
| 118/8 | South Africa | Nottingham | 16 June 2009 |
| 118 | Australia | Guwahati | 10 October 2017 |
| 120/9 | England | Kolkata | 29 October 2011 |
| 126/7 | Australia | Visakhapatnam | 24 February 2019 |
Nathan Coulter-Nile
vi) Australian pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile had the bowling figures of 4-0-26-3.
- It was the second-best T20I bowling figure by an Australian bowler against India in India. The record is 4-0-21-4 by Jason Behrendorff at Guwahati on 10 October 2017.
(2nd innings)
Australian partnership
vii) Australian batsmen D’Arcy Short and Glenn Maxwell provided 84-run partnership for the third wicket.
- It was the second highest partnership for Australia against India in T20Is. The record is 109* runs between Travis head and Moises Henriques (for the third wicket) against India at Guwahati on 10 October 2017.
Aaron Finch
viii) Australian captain Aaron Finch scored a golden duck.
- It was the third time when an Australian T20I captain got out on a golden duck. While Aaron Finch did it one more time, Ricky Ponting was the first Australian T20I captain achieve the same.
Jasprit Bumrah
ix) Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah completed 50 wickets in T20Is. By the end of this match, he has reached 51 T20I wickets.
- After Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah is the second Indian bowler to take 50+ T20I wickets. The off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has picked up 52 T20I wickets.
x) Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah had the bowling figures of 4-0-16-3.
- It is the best T20I bowling figures by an Indian pacer against Australia. Their previous record was 3.3-0-23-3 by Jasprit Bumrah at Adelaide on 26 January 2016.
- It was the third-best T20I bowling figures by an Indian bowler against Australia.
| Player | Bowling figures | Venue | Date |
| Ravichandran Ashwin | 3.2-0-11-4 | Dhaka | 30 March 2014 |
| Krunal Pandya | 4-0-36-4 | Sydney | 25 November 2018 |
| Jasprit Bumrah | 4-0-16-3 | Visakhapatnam | 24 February 2019 |
Australia
xi) Australia won this match by three wickets with 0 balls remaining.
- It was the second time when Australia chased down a T20I target on the last ball of the match. Their first incident was the Johannesburg T20I against South Africa on 6 March 2016. Australia won that match by five wickets.