Cricket Column: One of the finest performances by an Indian team overseas

INDIA’s dominating performance in the just concluded T20 series with Australia and the manner in which its experienced players came to the party in the nerve tingling final game makes it the favourites to win the ICC world T20 tournament which starts next month.
There was a sense of déjà vu when Yuvraj Singh making a comeback to the Indian team after almost 2 years struggled to put bat on ball but not for nothing has the ‘Yuvraj’ of Punjab been India’s man of the match on innumerable occasions in the past.
With 17 runs needed off six balls he put the issue to bed with a boundary and a six off the first two balls took a single and left the final flourish to another prodigious T20 talent Suresh Raina who scorched the winning hit to give Australia its first comprehensive defeat in 141 years.
Chasing nearly 200 is never easy but the Indian openers got the team off to a flying start and showed once again if proof was needed that at the international level Shaun Tait does not scare anybody as the Aussie media likes to think.
If anything his extra pace is just what the batsmen are looking for to whip the ball around.
While Virat Kohli has been batting in a manner that is out of this world, Rohit Sharma also has been sweet talking the ball to the boundary and beyond.
Their partnerships in this series is what has taken India to big totals.
A batting performance like India’s does tend to overshadow the bowlers efforts but no praise can be too high for the way the Indian bowlers restricted the Australian batsmen in the first two games.
The spinners came into their own and with Bumrah and Nehra keeping the lid at the start and then again at the end the runs were choked away.
In the final game though there seemed to be different approach which almost backfired but for the batsmen coming to the rescue.
Bumrah bowling round the wicket from the first ball to the left handed batsmen is a tactic that didn’t work and why it is being persisted with despite its continued failures is beyond
understanding.
Then Jadeja bowling low full tosses which were gleefully deposited into the crowd by the powerful Watson was another strategy that didn’t and will never work.
Still these are just minor hiccups in what has to be celebrated as one of the finest performances by an Indian team overseas.
As Dhoni said maybe a tweak or two to the squad for the ICC World T20 will do the trick and its a trick all Indian supporters are anxiously waiting to see. - PMG