- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
A brilliant spell by leg spinner Adam Zampa helped Australia break their T20I losing streak with a thrilling victory over India in Brisbane last night.
After eight overs India had sprinted to 1-78. Gun batsman Shikhar Dhawan was cutting loose and megastar Virat Kohli was next man in.
It was a daunting scenario for a spinner, particularly considering the ease with which many of the Indian batsmen butcher slow bowlers.
But Zampa showed the kind of calm and confidence which earned him many admirers in his debut year of international cricket in 2016. Over the past 18 months the 26-year-old had seemed to have lost a degree of that self-assuredness, which is one of the most important traits for a wrist spinner.
Last night, however, we saw the old Zampa. The relaxed, almost cocky Zampa. The very bloody good Zampa.
He started well, giving up just eight runs from his first over, which included a close stumping call. Then with the third ball of his second over Zampa producing a lovely googly, which dipped sharply on KL Rahul.
The Indian batsman overbalanced and was stumped by wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
(AAP Image/SNPA, John Cowpland)
That left Zampa to contend with Dhawan and Kohli, two of the most commanding players of spin on the planet.
Rather than wilting in the face of this daunting challenge, Zampa got even better. Maintaining a testing length which allowed the batsmen to go neither forward nor back with confidence, Zampa conceded just one run from his five deliveries to Kohli, and that single run was due to a misfield.
Zampa’s frugality saw the required run rate rise to 12 an over and pressured Kohli into a mistake.
The Indian skipper tried to release himself from Zampa’s web with what ended up being an ugly hack. Kohli charged Zampa, was defeated in the flight and top-edged the ball to short third man.
Zampa would have had three wickets at this stage had he not turfed an easy return catch from Dhawan just three balls before he got Kohli.
By the time Zampa had finished his remarkable four-over spell of 2-22, India were all but out of the game, needing 60 from 24 balls.
Some late strikes from Dinesh Karthik (30 from 13 balls) gave Australia a scare before all-rounder Marcus Stoinis (2-27 from 3 overs) closed out the match in impressive fashion.
The four-run victory in a rain-shortened match ended a four-match losing streak for Australia, who were defeated 3-0 by Pakistan in the UAE before being beaten in a one-off T20I by Australia last week.
Earlier, some savage striking by Glenn Maxwell (46 from 24 balls), Chris Lynn (37 from 20 balls) and Stoinis (33* from 19 balls) helped Australia to 4-158 from their 17 overs. India’s elite new ball pair of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar strangled the Australian top order, with the home side labouring at 1-42 after seven overs.
Then Lynn obliterated young left-arm quick Khaleel Ahmed, dispatching the 20-year-old for three sixes in one over.
While Australia struggled against wizardly left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav, who took 2-24 from four overs, they were brutal against fellow tweaker Krunal Pandya.
First Lynn deposited Pandya over the sightscreen and then Maxwell blasted him for three consecutive sixes. The left-arm finger spinner ended with the horrendous figures of 0-55 from four overs.
Andrew Tye later went close to exceeding that figure when he gave up a whopping 47 from three overs.
But that wasn’t sufficient to derail Australia’s defence of a good total as they scraped to a rousing victory.
