Australia's wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis was at his fluent best on Thursday (November 23) as he took the Indian bowlers to task and scored his maiden international hundred in the first T20I at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
Inglis came into bat after the fall of Matthew Short's wicket in the fifth over of the game and started dealing in fours and sixes immediately after his arrival in the middle. The fluency with which the Aussie wicketkeeper-batter dealt in boundaries allowed Steven Smith to take a sigh of relief as the latter was unable to score freely even after getting his eyes in.
Inglis got off the mark in an elegant fashion as he drove a googly from Ravi Bishnoi past the extra cover fielder to score his first boundary of the match. The 28-year-old made his intentions absolutely clear in the eighth over of the innings as he targeted India's right-arm pacer, Prasidh Krishna.
Inglis flicked the first delivery of the over towards the deep square leg region for a boundary as Prasidh drifted onto his pads and paid the price. Though the Indian fast bowler managed to bowl a dot on the next delivery, Inglish slapped the third ball over deep point for the first maximum of Australia's innings.
The Indian pacer tried to bluff the Aussie on the fourth delivery but couldn't get the execution right and Inglis managed to put it over Prasidh's head for a four. The wicketkeeper-batter latched onto a half-volley next and caressed it through the covers for an imperious boundary on the next delivery and took a single on the last ball of the over as he collected 19 runs in total.
Inglis didn't let his guard down throughout the course of his innings and finished with a score of 110 off 50 deliveries. His knock was studded with 11 fours and eight sixes and came at a jaw-dropping strike rate of 220 which helped Australia post 208 for the loss of three wickets in 20 overs.
