India vs Australia: Suryakumar Yadav's India registered a thrilling win over Matthew Wade-led Australia in the 1st T20I of a five-match series at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Thursday. The Men in Blue chased down their highest successful score in T20Is as they gunned down 209 with two wickets in hand on a batters' paradise.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav and Ishan Kishan played brilliant knocks before Rinku Singh helped India get over the line. Rinku hit a six off the final legal delivery of the game to seal India's win but that six was not counted.
Why Rinku's six was not counted?
India needed 7 runs off the final over with Rinku on strike. Despite a caught and bowled and a couple of run-outs, the Southpaw took the team within touching distance of victory with 1 required off the final ball. Sean Abbott bowled one fuller and Rinku deposited over long-on stands and the Indians started to celebrate their win. However, Abbott had overstepped.
As Abbott had overstepped and India needed one run, the extra run off the no-ball made India victorious. The runs scored on it through bat, leg-byes or byes are then not counted as the no-ball run preceded the six and it was enough for India to win. The six will not get added to either Rinku's scoresheet or to India's one. However, if more than a run had been required in this case, the six would have been added.
India made a winning start to the five-match series. Suryakumar Yadav starred with a Player of the Match performance on captaincy debut. His 80-run knock from 42 balls and Ishan Kishan's 58 from 39 balls helped India stay on course of a record-breaking win. Earlier, Australia's Josh Inglis scored 110 from 50 balls and helped the Aussies get to 208 to put the Aussies ahead.
Suryakumar credited the energy of the players for the win. Very happy with the way the boys played. Was very happy with their energy, we were put under pressure but the way everyone showed up was amazing. It’s a proud moment, a very proud moment, every time you play, you think about representing India but coming out here and captaining India is a big moment.
