© AP
Adelaide: Australia skipper Aaron Finch praised India’s star batsman Virat Kohli for his superb unbeaten innings which guided the visitors to a comfortable 37-run victory in the first of the three-match Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket series at the Adelaide Oval here on Tuesday (Match Report | Scorecard | Highlights)
Kohli remained unbeaten on 90 off just 55 balls, hitting nine boundaries and two sixes along the way. Suresh Raina gave him good support at the other end, scoring 41 runs from 34 balls. The duo added 134 runs between them as India posted 188/3 in 20 overs after being asked to bat.
In reply, the hosts were bowled out for 151 in 19.3 overs. Captain Finch was Australia’s highest scorer with a 44.
Young pacer Jasprit Bumrah starred on his T20I debut by picking up three wickets for 23 runs, while another debutant, Hardik Pandya, bagged 2/37. Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was also equally effective, picking two wickets for 21 runs in four overs.
“We let ourselves down in the field, an unbelievable innings from Kohli. We were surprised with the amount of spin, but we had eight batsmen plus Faulkner, at the end of the day, we had the batsmen to chase it down,” Finch said at the post match presentation ceremony.
“I thought we bowled well, might have conceded 10-15 runs too many. 170 would have been a slightly easier chase, the ball stopped a bit under lights and one or two batsmen failed to adapt to the surface,” the 29-year-old said.
Source: NDTV