After Koffee with Karan controversy, KL Rahul makes an amazing comeback in international cricket
Indian opener KL Rahul made an amazing comeback in international cricket after his Koffee with Karan controversy which shook BCCI and Indian cricket from the core. Hardik was accused of misogynist conduct by Indian media and feminists while KL Rahul too came in the flak as he was featuring alongside Pandya.
Rahul made an amazing half-century hitting across the park, his fifty included six fours and one six. Rahul scored 36-ball 50 before he played a bad shot off Coulter-Nile’s ball and gave away a catch to Aaron Finch.
India lost their first T20 international against Australia by 3 wickets in Visakhapatnam. India lost wickets at regular intervals as Australia took the lead in the two-match series by 1-0. Wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni was the second highest run scorer for India with his 37-ball 29.
Skipper Virat Kohli made 17-ball 24 before he was caught by Coulter-Nile off Zampa’s ball. Six Indian batsmen including Rohit Sharma and Rishabh Pant couldn’t cross the single digit run mark as India tumbled for 126 runs. For Australia Nathan Coulter-Nile made an amazing comeback as he took 3 wickets under his name while Pat Cummins, Adam Zampa and Jason Behrendorff took 1 wicket each.
Australia came in to bat and had a slow start as India did. Marcus Stoinis was unfortunate as he was run-out after a miscommunication with D’Arcy Short. Skipper Aaron Finch continued his streak of poor performances as he was dismissed lbw by Jasprit Bumrah.
After a great season at Big Bash League, Glenn Maxwell continued his good form as he made an amazing half-century hitting 43-ball 56 before he departed off Chahal’s ball, D’Arcy Short on the other hand made 37 runs off 37 balls before he was run out by Krunal Pandya.
Death over specialist Jasprit Bumrah was called in for the ninteenth over and he proved his worth as he gave just 2 runs and also took wickets of Peter Handscomb and Nathan Coulter-nile. Bumrah took 3 wickets while Chahal and Krunal took 1 each.
The match was stretched till the last ball but Australia came out victorious as Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson finished it with two singles. Nathan Coulter-Nile was given the man of the match award for his match winning numbers of 3-26.
Earlier in the day, Mayank Markande and Peter Handscomb made their debut for their respective teams. Australia’s Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to bowl first. The last and final T20I will be played on February 27 in Bengaluru's M. Chinnaswamy Stadium.
