India VS Australia Dettol T20 Series
1ST Match Played at Manuka Oval, Canberra 
India 161/7 (KL Rahul 51, RA Jadeja 44*, SV Samson 23, MC Hentriques 3/22, MA Starc 2/34, A Zampa 1/20, MJ Swepson1/21) beat Australia. 150/7 (AJ Flinch 35, M Henriques 30, YS Chahal 3/25, T Natarajan 3/30) by 11 Runs 
Player of The Match: YS Chahal 

Australia winning the toss put India into bat. Pacers and spinners kept them under reasonable control till Jadeja came to bat at 7 . His flamboyant innings of 44 not out in 23 balls led India to a competitive score of 161/7. But getting a strike on his helmet had a concussion substitute like for like leg spinner Chahal. When Australia was looking like cruising towards the target Chahal removing Flinch, Smith and Wade won the match for India by 11 runs. After losing two ODI back to back by big margin at SCG India bounced back at Canberra winning the third and now in the same venue won the first T20. Now teams travel to Sydney for two more T20 matches before starting the Test series. Manuka Oval proved a happy hunting ground for India in 2020. 

Australia played two leg spinners Zampa and Swepson in a T20 match after a long time. It is not since Warne and. MacGill played together in any format together. On a slow wicket Australia kept India in check. In the top order none but Rahul could strike the ball well.  At 5/92 in the 14th over when Rahul got out scoring 51 none thought India would get up to 161 . But Jadeja batted superbly. His unbeaten 44 in 23 led India scoring 161/7.On a slow Wicket it was a difficult score to chase. Henrique took 3/22 and Starc took 2/34. 

With Warner unfit Flinch had Darcy Short as his new partner. When they put on 56 for the first wicket there was thought that it would be cakewalk for Australia. But two brilliant catches one by Pandya and other by Samson off the bowling of concussion substitute Chahal changed the complexion of the game. Suddenly Natarajan and Chahar also started bowling tight. Australia was squeezed scoring 150/7 loosing by 11 runs. India in T20 proved better organized than Australia. IPL has really worked for India creating so many flexibilities in player selection. Big bash did not deliver that much for Australia.

BDST: 1852 HRS, DEC 04, 2020
AP