RAIPUR: Brought to life by Glenn Maxwell’s brilliance, which has kept Australia alive, this most illtimed series will move into its fourth T20I contest at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium here on Friday night. The hosts, sitting on a 2-1 lead, will aim to wrap it up here itself.
The series, days after an emotionally draining World Cup final, has struggled for context and fan interest. To make it worse, with the winter setting in, dew has become a big enemy for the bowlers, while making the toss a decisive factor. Teams have found defending totals next to impossible.
In what has been a nightmarish series for the bowlers so far, five of the six innings have seen 200- plus scores, with Australia making 191-9 in 20 overs in the sixth.
Quizzed on why India’s bowling — their trump card in the World Cup — was looking brittle in this series, leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi said, “Yes, our bowlers performed well in the World Cup. However, if you see, there’s a lot of difference in the wickets for the World Cup and here, where the matches have been high-scoring, and bowlers from both the teams have gone for runs. We’re trying to improve day by day, and will look to do better in the last two matches.”
Could the trend of high-scoring matches change at this venue, where in an ODI on January 21 this year India bowled out New Zealand for 108 in 34.3 overs? “It’s a good thing if the bowlers get at least something here,” said Bishnoi.
With dew being such a big factor, it’s a no-brainer that captains who win the toss will field first. “Guys talk about bowling first here. Once the dew sets in, conditions do change a bit. That’s been the strategy for most teams playing night cricket here in India. So, I think it’ll be pretty similar at the toss. We’ll decide to bowl first,” said Australian left-arm pacer Behrendorff, who has been the best bowler on either side so far.
Despite trailing in the series at the moment, the Aussies have wisely pulled out six of their World Cup-winning players after just three games. One of those six men is a certain match-winner in Maxwell, who just blasted a 48-ball 104 not out in Guwahati in the third T20I to help the visitors gain their first win of the series.
Australia’s squad now bears a weaker look, but Behrendorff said there was still a lot of T20 experience in this group, thanks to the Big Bash League and other T20 leagues around the world.
India, on the other hand, will be bolstered by the return of inform middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer, named as the vice-captain for the last two games, and reliable pacer Mukesh Kumar, who missed the last match due to his wedding. “Iyer’s presence will make a huge difference to our batting lineup. He enjoys a huge reputation in T20 cricket and was in good form in the World Cup,” Bishnoi said.
Coming off a highly successful World Cup, where he scored 530 runs in 11 games@66.25, Iyer is likely to replace Tilak Varma, who has managed to log just 50 runs in three games, as all the other top-order batsmen Ruturaj Gaikwad, whose 123 not out off just 57 balls in the last match went in vain, Yashasvi Jaiswal, skipper Suryakumar Yadav and finisher Rinku Singh have been in blazing form.
Tormented by a Maxwell special at Guwahati which caused the hosts to lose the third T20I despite making 222 for three in 20 overs, India’s beleaguered bowlers must surely be heaving a sigh of relief with the ‘Big Show’s ‘No-show’ in the last two games.
They would, however, still must contend with the presence of the ultra-dangerous Travis Head, who, after his scintillating hundred in the World Cup final, teed off in this series with an 18-ball 35 in the last match.
While most bowlers in the world are cannon fodder for the likes of Maxwell and Head, India’s team think tank must ponder certain questions this series has thrown about their back-up pace bowling in T20Is, just seven months before a World Cup in this format.
