INDIA vs SRI LANKA 2nd T20 - India have beaten Sri Lanka in the second T20, after the first one was rained off. With 2.3 overs to spare India went on to win by 7 wickets.
3rd T20 - India once again beat Sri Lanka, this time batting first. After winning the toss Shikkhar Dhawan and
KL Rahul, batted superbly, and great bowling from Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakar, who was player of the match. India win series 2-0!
INDIA vs AUSTRALIA 1st ODI - Australia 258 for 0 (Warner 128*, Finch 110*) beat India 255 (Dhawan 74, Rahul 47, Starc 3-56, Richardson 2-43, Cummins 2-44) by ten wickets
Australia outsmarted India with the ball and then bullied them in the chase, with centuries from David Warner and Aaron Finch not even allowing the hosts a sniff. Together they put on the
highest partnership for any wicket against India as Australia cantered home by ten wickets with 12.2 overs to spare. Earlier, they restricted India to 255 after putting them in. At the
forefront of the bowling effort were Mitchell Starc, who strangled India in three different phases to finish with 3 for 56, and Pat Cummins, who took the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan for 74
and Rishabh Pant for 28 to deny India any acceleration.
India's bowlers found swing from both ends, but it was also clear that the pitch had less of the grip or stoppage that it had shown under daylight. With deliveries sliding on sweetly off
the surface, both Finch and Warner were mostly unfazed by the odd ones that beat them.
Finch, in particular, stayed leg side of the ball and drove and chopped confidently through the covers of both front and back foot. Warner was more tentative to start off, getting his
first boundary in the seventh over after Finch had already hit five. Once he got a taste, he too started hitting from a predominantly leg-side position, starting with a big plant down the
pitch to lace Shardul Thakur over mid-off.
So brutal was the stroke-making that India's bowlers took a while before they tried to pull their lengths back the way Australia had. Even when they did manage it, they started erring on the
shorter side. Thakur was especially punished, his relatively lower pace suiting Warner particularly.
In his first over, the 11th of the innings, Kuldeep Yadav appeared like he might be able to apply the brakes and change the scoring pattern. He found Finch's leading edge twice in that over,
but soon enough a release ball lobbed full on middle stump was smoked straight for six. That brought up 100 in 12.3 overs, 70 of those runs coming in boundaries.
Soon enough, the spinners also started dropping them short, and the faultiness started showing. More misfields crept in, a review was wasted in the 20th over, and by the end of the 21st over
Virat Kohli was pictured animatedly arguing an lbw decision with umpire C Shamshuddin.
In the meantime, Warner and Finch had made fifties, marched the team past 150, and set themselves up for hundreds that were reached with comfort after the 200 partnership was brought up in the
31st over.
Not at any point after the first drinks break did India appear like they had ideas to stop the pair, which was far from the case when Australia had the ball. Their fast bowlers had adjusted
brilliantly on the fly in good batting conditions and were aided by impressive bowler rotation from captain Finch.
The first over of the match from Starc was indicative of two things to Australia - there wasn't going to be too much swing, and straying too full was always going to cost boundaries.
Cummins relied more on whacking the ball into the surface at the other end, and soon enough, Starc adjusted his lengths too. After eight in the first over, India were tied to 13 in the middle
of the fifth, when Rohit Sharma attempted a third expansive drive. On this occasion, Starc had gone cross-seam and natural variation forced a harmless chip to mid-off.
KL Rahul, India's third opener in the squad, came in at No. 3. At the start, he looked more fluent than the returning Shikhar Dhawan, who crawled to 3 off 22 before he got his first boundary
by running down at Starc. He followed up with one through midwicket next ball and with a slap over midwicket off Kane Richardson soon after, Dhawan became increasingly confident.
Both he and Rahul seemed to have assessed that there was some grip on the surface. Hardly any of the boundaries they picked up were forced - save one elegant six against the turn and over
mid-off by Dhawan. Even so, their 121-run stand came in good time at 22.4 overs.
A slight lapse from Rahul, however, gave Australia an opening that they aggressively took advantage of. After stepping out to Agar, he lobbed his drive straight to extra cover to fall for 47.
Next over, Cummins was brought on as soon as Kohli was at the crease. He managed to find Dhawan's leading edge as he looked to flick and suddenly India were three down.
From the other end, Finch also brought back Adam Zampa, who had troubled Kohli on Australia's last tour. It resulted in a wicket, Kohli looking to force a drive off Zampa but only managing to
drill it straight back at him. Next over, another bowling change brought another wicket. Starc replaced Cummins, roughed Shreyas Iyer up with a bouncer, and pushed one across him next ball to
have him caught-behind on the drive. From 134 for 1, the score read 164 for 5, with 17 overs still to play.
With Kedar Jadhav making way for a third opener, Pant was India's No. 6, and one half of the last recognised batting pair alongside Ravindra Jadeja. The left-handers went about it much like
Dhawan and Rahul had - no serious risks were taken, but the scoring rate kept India alive for a chance at 280.
2nd ODI - India 340 for 6 (Dhawan 96, Rahul 80, Kohli 78, Zampa 3-50) beat Australia 304 (Smith 98, Labuschagne 46, Shami 3-77, Jadeja 2-58, Saini 2-62, Yadav 2-65) by 36 runs
For the second series in a row, India stayed alive having fallen 1-0 behind and lost the toss in the second, thanks again to batting full of intent that gave their bowlers a total they could defend.
In doing so, they might even have found a solution to their biggest problem in ODI cricket post Yuvraj Singh: middle-order batting.India lost wickets in two braces, which reduced them to 198 for 3 and 280 for 5, but Rahul played a part in pulling India out of strife on both occasions. If it was Adam Zampa's analysis of 3 for 50 kept India in check, India's spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav rocked Australia in the middle overs with two big wickets each. Jadeja kept India in the contest with tight overs and wickets of Aaron Finch and Marnus Labuschagne, and Yadav ended the chase with the strikes of Steven Smith and Alex Carey in the same over.
It helped that there was no dew, something Kohli had predicted at the toss.
Smith missed out on a hundred by two runs. He wasn't the only man to fall in the 90s. Like the openers did in the must-win match against West Indies, it was Dhawan who made India's intent clear
with a 90-ball 96. He started with a lovely straight-driven boundary first ball, and cared more about the team's scoring rate than his century. He had scored 35 off the last 18 balls when he went
to hit another boundary but managed a top edge to long leg off a Kane Richardson short ball. As he had done when setting up India's win against Australia in the World Cup, it emerged he had batted
on with a serious injury, this time a blow to the unprotected ribs.
He is expected to be okay for the final game on Sunday.
India began the series looking to find space to squeeze KL Rahul in the top order. Instead, batting at No. 5 with that experiment lasting only one match,
Rahul responded with a 52-ball 80 to take India to 340 after they threatened to end up with little over 300 despite fifties from Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli.Intent was apparent from the other end too with Rohit Sharma not shying from hitting in the air early on in the innings. India raced to 55 for 0 in 10 overs, and kept the run rate around six despite Sharma's fall to Zampa. This was despite Australia looking to attack, using up Pat Cummins' seven overs in the first 17.
Kohli made an effortless run-a-ball start to his innings, but Dhawan found a bit of a lull with the run rate dropping below six after the 20th over. In the 25th over, Ashton Agar bowled two successive dots to Kohli, but he was in no mood to take risks this early. Dhawan, though, had decided this was time for him to go. A slog sweep, a reverse sweep, and India had found the momentum again.
Dhawan's wicket brought about a scratchy innings from Shreyas Iyer, promoted ahead of Rahul. It ended with an ugly hoick against a full Zampa delivery, putting India under pressure. Australia
looked to push on, going to their wicket-takers, but Kohli and Rahul hit two boundaries each off Cummins and Mitchell Starc's overs. Rahul soon began to dominate, scoring 42 in the 78-run
partnership with Kohli.
In the 44th over, when Kohli looked to hit the next gear, hitting in the air for the first time in the match, he mis-hit Zampa to long-off for a relay catch. Manish Pandey's soft dismissal left
Rahul with only Ravindra Jadeja as a recognised batting hand and six overs to go. Many a time India have gone wrong from there, but Rahul unfurled some attractive shots against the best bowlers
Australia had to offer. The highlight was an inside-out flat six off Starc, who was consigned to his second-worst analysis in terms of runs conceded and his first wicketless match in 15 outings.
The significance of Rahul's innings shows in how this was the first time since 2013 that an Indian batting at 5 or lower had scored a fifty at a strike rate of over 150 when setting a target.
Between two such efforts by India, 67 batsmen have done it overall. The last man to do it for India was MS Dhoni. Rahul would further emulate Dhoni with a quick stumping to dismiss Finch. Before
that, Jasprit Bumrah had put on a clinic with a kind of spell that doesn't gets mentioned in the aftermath of an ODI. There was no wicket taken but he troubled Finch on both the inside and
outside edge often. There were successive maidens too. In between David Warner had fallen to a stunning catch by Pandey. Yet such is the nature of ODIs that Australia looked well on target
with Finch and Smith adding 62 for the second wicket.
The stumping decision was a 50-50 call that could have gone either way, but there was no doubt that Jadeja had bowled a beauty to turn the ball past Finch's edge. The wicket didn't bring India
relief. Debutant Labuschagne began smoothly, matching the man he tries to emulate shot for shot. Boundaries and singles kept flowing easily, putting Yadav under the pump. The run rate soon
crossed six.
Again, Jadeja dragged Australia back in partnership with Navdeep Saini by stacking up dots. Smith didn't throw it away despite the slowdown but Labuschagne ended up chipping Jadeja to long-off.
At 178 for 3 in the 31st over, Australia were still in the contest. Especially with Smith turning up another gear, looking to take toll of the spinners before one extra fielder went out for the
last 10 overs,
Smith and Carey brought it down to 122 required in 13 overs, with Bumrah's four remaining overs increasingly becoming the key. Facing the heat, Yadav started his ninth over having conceded 57
already. He showed heart by slowing his pace down, creating indecision in Smith with a wrong'un outside leg. He stayed slow, drawing a soft chip from Carey for a catch to extra cover. Three balls
later, he bowled another wrong'un to Smith, who got undone by the utter slowness of it and ended up playing on.
Game, set and match right there with Yadav taking more than one wicket in an over for the 13th time, six more than anybody has done in ODIs since his debut. The fast bowlers then finished it off
in style, but there was some cause for concern for India: Sharma hurt his shoulder when making a diving save at the boundary and is unsure for the decider in Bangalore.
3rd ODI - Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli starred with the bat as India chased down the 287-run target against Australia in the third ODI at M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru to clinch the
three-match series 2-1 on Sunday. Rohit Sharma scored his 29th ODI hundred while skipper Virat Kohli scored his 57th fifty of his ODI career. Rohit and Kohli added 137 runs for the second wicket, helping India take control of the game. Rohit got out for 119 runs while Kohli smashed 89 runs. Shreyas Iyer scored a quickfire 44 off 35 balls to help India chase down the total with 15 balls left and register a seven wicket win. For Australia, Pat Cummmins and Mitchell Starc had an off day as they leaked boundaries way too often. Both of the them went wicket-less. Ashton Agar, Adam Zampa and Josh Hazlewood bowled economically and picked up a wicket each but couldn't help their side get across the finish line. Earlier, Australia skipper Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to bat. Steve Smith (131 runs off 132 balls) scored his 9th ODI hundred, while Marnus Labuschagne smashed his maiden ODI fifty, helping Australia score 286/9 in Bengaluru.India win series 2-1!
Follow this link forLIVE CRICKET STREAMING ON MOBILE DEVICES(IPAD, IPHONE, ANDROID):
.jpeg)