Ruturaj Gaikwad’s fireworks in the death
overs helped Bharat set Australia a daunting target of 222/3 in the third T20I
at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Assam on Tuesday.
Gaikwat went unbeaten, showcasing why he
is touted as the next big thing in Indian cricket. After operating at a strike
rate below 100 initially, the right-hander opened out in the latter half of the
Indian innings, going at a strike rate of over 215.
Australian left-arm seamer Jason
Behrendorff bowled a mean spell at the start of the Indian innings, sending
back opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who slammed a quickfire fifty in the previous
match, for six.
Behrendorff produced an exceptional
opening burst, picking up one wicket at the expense of just five runs.
Right-arm pacer Kane Richardson, too,
stifled the Indian run charge and picked up Ishan Kishan for a five-ball duck.
However, Ruturaj and skipper Suryakumar
Yadav then came together to stabilise the innings, with the latter going after
Nathan Ellis, Tanveer Sangha and Aaron Hardie.
The T20 batting ace brought his
360-degree skills to the fore, accumulating 32 runs in four overs, in the
company of Ruturaj.
Ruturaj, who was going at a strike rate
below 100 at the time, launched an assault on the Aussie attack, slamming
Sangha to the fence.
The skipper, who was going great guns at
39, was sent back by Hardie halfway through the Indian innings.
After the fall of Surya’s wicket,
Ruturaj put his foot on the pedal and scored at a strike rate of over 185,
racing to the nineties in no time.
Tilak Varma, at the other end, gave
Ruturaj good company, rotating the strike and also finding the fence at will.
India reached the 150-run mark in the
17th over, with the visitors still in with a chance to keep the hosts to under
200.
However, Hardie’s inexperience proved
his undoing, as Ruturaj tore into him in the 18th over, smacking him for 25
runs with three sixes and a boundary.
Skipper Matthew Wade’s gamble to give
Glenn Maxwell the final over didn’t pay off either, as Ruturaj completed his
ton with a maximum of the first ball of the 20th over.
The opener’s fireworks continued
thereafter as he stepped out of his crease to send another over to the stands
and picked up a third straight six, pulling Maxwell over the square boundary as
he dropped short.
Of the final ball, too, he picked up a
boundary to propel Bharat’s score to 222/3. In the final over of the Indian
innings, which was Maxwell’s first, he conceded 30 runs.
Brief Scores: Bharat 222/3 (Rutuaj
Gaikwad 123(57)*, Suryakumar Yadav 39; Kane Richardson 1-34).
ANI
