How much can one partnership change the fortunes of a tour? How much can your first win as a touring team, after suffering two back-to-back losses, help you find momentum? These questions should be answered on Friday, when, in the second leg of their tour Down Under, India take on Australia in the opening game of a three-match T20 International series at the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
Having been outplayed in the first two ODIs, India looked set to suffer a clean sweep when they lost half their side with 152 on the board, in 32 overs, in the final ODI at Canberra on Wednesday, before an unbeaten 152-run stand for the sixth wicket between
turned the tide. India scored 302 and won by 13 runs. The fact that the venue of their fightback, which happened only 48 hours earlier, remains the same, should help the visitors psychologically.
From a bunch which seemed to be plagued by problems – lack of a sixth bowling option, bowlers who can’t bat, key bowlers in bad form – the tourists, going into a format in which the tour should have started in the first place considering that it followed the IPL, suddenly look like a far more dangerous bunch.
Having lost Pandya the bowler, India seem to have discovered Pandya the frontline batsman, the No. 6 who can take the team to a big total or steer the team home in a big chase. During the course of his match-winning 76-ball 92, the 25-year-old showed tremendous maturity, taking time to dig his heels in when the going was tough, before unleashing his trademark big hits at the death.
In the T20 games, though, India would be happy to see Pandya do what he does best for the
blast off from ball one to make optimum use of the final five overs. Pandya’s improvement as a batsman has to be the biggest gain of the tour so far for them.
Giving Pandya close competition for Team India’s ‘MVP’ right now is Jadeja. His 50-ball unbeaten 66 in that victory was yet another affirmation of the fact that in the last few years, Jadeja has improved vastly as a batsman, though he may have slipped slightly as a bowler. His electric fielding, which was evident yet again when he took a diving catch on the square leg boundary to get rid of
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