Virat Kohli’s elegant unbeaten 90 and some crafty bowling by their spinners yesterday secured India’s comprehensive 37-run victory over Australia in the first Twenty20 international at the Adelaide Oval.
Put into bat, the tourists rode Kohli’s classy knock to post 188-3 and then returned to skittle out Australia for 151 for a morale-boosting win barely six weeks before the Twenty20 World Cup at home.
Australia began well with Aaron Finch scoring freely before Jasprit Bumrah (3-23) dismissed David Warner (17) and then the Indian spinners took over.
Photo: AP
Ravindra Jadeja (2-21) dismissed Steven Smith and Ravichandran Ashwin (2-28) sent back Finch (44) to derail Australia’s chase and the hosts eventually folded in 19.3 overs.
It was an inspiring bowling effort by the tourists after their repeated failures to defend 300-plus totals in the preceding one-day series, which Australia won 4-1.
Kohli’s unbeaten 90 was the bedrock of India’s innings after Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and opted to field.
Indian openers milked 40 runs of the first four overs before Shane Watson pegged them back with a double strike.
The 34-year-old blond dismissed the dangerous Rohit Sharma (31) with his first delivery and Shikhar Dhawan (five) with his fifth.
Kohli and limited-overs specialist Suresh Raina (41) steadied the ship with a 134-run stand spread over nearly three-fourth of the visitors’ innings.
Raina initially struggled to get going, but Kohli displayed a sublime touch that has been the hallmark of his batting as of late.
James Faulkner castled Raina, but Kohli remained unbeaten after a 55-ball innings that included two sixes and nine boundaries.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s hard-hitting prowess had looked on the wane in the one-day international series, but the India captain drilled the first ball he faced from Faulkner for a six and followed it with a boundary as India settled for a competitive total.
Playing his first international match in nearly five years, Australia paceman Shaun Tait began with a 150kph delivery, but sent down six wides and bled 45 runs in his four overs without any success.
India’s left-arm paceman Ashish Nehra, who like Tait had not played an international match since the 2011 World Cup, made a better comeback, claiming a wicket and taking a skier to dismiss Watson.
Melbourne is to host the second Twenty20 international of the three-match series on Friday.
A sumo star was born in Japan on Sunday when 24-year-old Takerufuji became the first wrestler in 110 years to win a top-division tournament on his debut, triumphing at the 15-day Spring Grand Sumo Tournament in Osaka despite injuring his ankle on the penultimate day. Takerufuji, whose injury had left him in a wheelchair outside the ring, shoved out the higher-ranked Gonoyama at the Edion Arena Osaka to the delight of the crowd, giving him an unassailable record of 13 wins and two losses to claim the Emperor’s Cup. “I did it just through willpower. I didn’t really know what was going
The US’ Ilia Malinin on Saturday produced six scintillating quadruple jumps, including a quadruple Axel, in the men’s free skate to capture his first figure skating world title. The 19-year-old nicknamed the “Quad god,” who is the only skater to land a quadruple Axel in competition, dazzled with an array of breathtakingly executed jumps starting with his quad Axel and including a quadruple Lutz in combination with a triple flip and a quadruple toe loop in combination with a triple toe. He added an unexpected triple-triple combination at the end to earn a world-record 227.79 in the free program for a championship
Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well
MLB on Friday announced a formal investigation into the scandal swirling around Shohei Ohtani and his former interpreter amid charges that the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar was the victim of “massive theft.” The Dodgers on Wednesday fired Ippei Mizuhara, Ohtani’s long-time interpreter and close friend, after Ohtani’s representatives alleged that the Japanese two-way star had been the victim of theft, which was reported to involve millions of dollars and link Mizuhara to a suspected illegal bookmaker in California. “Major League Baseball has been gathering information since we learned about the allegations involving Shohei Ohtani and Ippei Mizuhara from the news media,” MLB