Vishakapatnam, Nov 24: Skipper Suryakumar Yadav led from the front in the company of Ishan Kishan to hand an inexperienced India a thrilling two- wicket victory over Australia in the first T20 International of the five-match series here on Thursday.Chasing a mammoth 209-run target, Surya scored 80 off 42 balls, while Kishan made 58 off 39 balls to take India home in the final ball. Towards the end, Rinku Singh (22 not out off 14 balls) delivered the finishing touches with a six to take India home.
India-origin leg-spinner Tanveer Sangha (2/47) picked up two wickets for Australia.
Earlier, Josh Inglis smashed his maiden century in the format to power Australia to 208 for three after being sent into bat. Inglis smashed a fiery 110 off just 50 balls with the help of 11 boundaries and eight sixes to propel Australia to 208 for three.
Suryakumar Yadav, India captain and Player of the Match, said,Ā Very happy with the way the boys played. Was very happy with their energy, we were put under pressure but the way everyone showed up was amazing. Itās a proud moment, very proud moment, everytime you play, you think about representing India but coming out here and captaining India is a big moment. Thought there will be a little bit of dew but there wasnāt. It isnāt a big ground and I knew batting will get easy. Thought they might get 230-235 but the bowlers did really well. Just enjoy and express yourself. Weāve been in such situations many times in franchise cricket, just told Ishan to enjoy himself. We knew what was going to happen. I left the luggage of captaincy in the dressing room. I try to enjoy my batting. The atmosphere was amazing, thanks to the crowd. Was great to see how the boys kept their nerves. Was great to see Rinku, the situation was tailor-made for him. He was calm and collected, calmed me down a little bit.
Matthew Wade, Australia captain, said,Ā Ā It was a good match in the end. Inglis got us a score we thought we could defend but the Indians came hard at us. These young Indians play a lot of IPL and T20 cricket. Thought we bowled pretty well, just couldnāt nail our yorkers, easier said than done especially on a small ground like this. Lot of positives to take out from this game. Inglis was class. We thought we did fairly well, Ellis bowled a big over for us to take it into the final over, it went down to the last ball so it shows how close it was.