A lethal spell from Josh Hazlewood has propelled Australia to an emphatic four-wicket Twenty20 win over India in front of 82,438 fans at the MCG.
After the opening game of the five-match series in Canberra was washed out on Wednesday night, Australia went 1-0 up with a commanding performance. With the huge crowd in Melbourne made up predominantly of Indian fans, Hazlewood silenced them from the beginning after captain Mitch Marsh won another toss and elected to bowl first.
After dismissing India for 125 off 18.4 overs, Marsh (46) and fellow opener Travis Head (28) went about trying to end the match as quickly as possible, with Australia chasing down India’s disappointing target with a whopping 40 balls to spare, racing to 126-6 off 13.2 overs. Marsh, who has been in scintillating white-ball form, smashed one of the biggest ever sixes at the MCG when he blasted Harshit Rana into the second level of the Olympic Stand.
After whacking four sixes, Marsh went for one big shot too many and was caught at long off with Australia 39 runs away from victory. Australia lost 39 for 4 after Marsh’s dismissal, which included Jasprit Bumrah getting on a hat-trick, but were never in any danger of losing the match.
Hazlewood never relented after seemingly taking a wicket with the first ball of the match, which was then overturned on review, to finish with figures of 3 for 13. Opener Abhishek Sharma batted superbly, playing a lone hand to save India from embarrassment with 68 from 37 balls. Sharma didn’t manage to find enough of the strike, however, for India to truly capitalise on his class.
A tribute for teenage cricketer Ben Austin, who tragically died after being struck by a ball while batting in the nets on Tuesday afternoon in Ferntree Gully in Melbourne’s east, took place before the game. Both teams and officials observed a minute’s silence for Ben.
