END OF OVER:20 | 19 Runs | IND: 200/3 | RR: 10.00
- Suresh Raina49 (25b)
- Yuvraj Singh15 (12b)
- Andrew Tye4-0-51-0
- Shane Watson4-0-30-1
That is the end of a hectic Indian tour of Australia. Those bowlers can rest a bit now. Batsmen have got flat pitches and good bats, but they deserve some of the credit for their ruthlessness too. It was good fun bringing it to you. Cricinfo bids goodbye now
"Lot of credit to the bowlers," says MS Dhoni. "In the ODI series the batsmen were doing well, we needed the extra 10% from the bowlers. That has changed with Bumrah coming in and others getting their act together. Yes, the batsmen have taken it up a notch, but it is the bowlers who have done their job better, which has made the difference. There might be one or two changes based on the conditions in the World T20, but this is roughly what our T20 side will look like."
"They certainly are special," says Shane Watson, Man of the Match. "They showed it to us in the one-day series as well. we put up the big score to give ourselves a big score, but couldn't get ourselves over the line. At this point of time I am loving every minute of playing for Australia. The privilege to captain the team was great although it was a bit hectic at time. I do enjoy my batting. I blocked the ball a bit too much early, but it was a pleasure to bat with Uzzie. Can't believe he got out. We have got the world-class players, there is no reason why we can't have a successful World T20. Just need to chalk out the roles..."
"Indeed, reads sweet," says Virat Kohli, Man of the Series. "We decided before Sydney one-dayer that we want to finish the tour 4-all. Just because we played so well earlier but didn't get on the board. I was disappointed when I got out because I wanted to finish the game off. I challenge myself to finish them off when I chase. The way Yuvi and Raina, both of them coming back, finished it off, credit to their character. (Rohit starts dancing midway because Kohli is asked about him). I have said this many times that I am a big fan of Rohit. The time he has got, and the miles he can hit the ball..."
Surely there are thousands of Twitter jokes about Yuvraj being deleted furiously right now? But boy did he dig himself a hole here? The wheel turned with two gentle length balls at the start of the last over, but to hit them clean out of the crews under such pressure... India have moved from No. 8 at the start of this series to No. 1 after this whitewash. So they are No. 1 in both Tests and T20Is. Credit to Bumrah too for those tight overs in the end when Australia looked like could go well past 200. Yet another first-innings centurion ends up on the losing side. Not sure you could ask Watson to do much more. Scored an unbeaten century, took a wicket in his first over, captained the side, and conceded just five in the 19th over. He also left Yuvraj on strike. At the start of the 20th over, India needed 17 runs and Yuvraj was 5 off 9 and still googling the middle of his bat. Then he got two length balls on the pads. Pressure got to Tye, but the veteran batsman produced the goods. Credit will go to Sharma and Kohli for their aggressive fifties, which provided Yuvraj the luxury of those dot balls. He will be one relieved man
Boundary-riders are two-thirds now. Square leg goes back. Will we have a super over? Off-side everybody is up. Will Tye get a tie?