India recorded a thrilling last-ball win in the first T20I match against Australia on Thursday, November 23. New stand-in skipper Suryakumar Yadav shone on his captaincy debut as India registered their most successful chase in T20I history.
After a heartbreaking end to the ICC World Cup 2023, the cricket fraternity shifted their focus to the T20I format. Suryakumar led the much-changed Indian side against Australia and both teams produced an entertaining game at Visakhapatnam’s ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
Indian bowlers failed to make an impact as Australia put 208 runs on the scoreboard while batting first. Josh Inglis scored a 47-ball hundred with Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh and Prasidh Krishna getting hammered on the batting-friendly surface.
Chasing a mammoth target, India lost in-form opener Ruturaj Gaikwad on a diamond duck after an unfortunate runout in the middle. This was the only third diamond duck in Indian cricket history after Jasprit Bumrah‘s (in 2016) and Amit Mishra’s (2017) dismissals.
The Men in Blue created an unwanted record when Arshdeep Singh was also dismissed for a diamond duck in the last over when India were in dire need of two runs in two balls. This was the first time when two Indian cricketers suffered diamond ducks in an international cricket match.
Notably, Ravi Bishnoi ran out on a golden duck in the last over as India unfortunately registered three ducks in the same game. However, Suryakumar’s 80 runs off 42 balls proved the difference as India claimed a thrilling victory in the end.
After the match, Arshdeep posted an Instagram story with him posing alongside Ravi Bishnoi and Ruturaj Gaikwad and added a ‘duck emoji’ over their heads in a funny way.
Australia Playing XI: Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (c & wk), Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha
India Playing XI: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna