A great partnership can very well turn the tables and change the fortunes of a tour. India is back on track and wants to carry the momentum of winning after two back to back heavy losses. On Friday, these questions are to be answered as the second leg will kick-off in the tour Down Under as the Indians are going to take on the mighty Australians in the first match of the 3 matches T20I series in Canberra at the Manuka Oval.
In the first 2 ODIs, the Indians have been outplayed and was looking down and out for a clean sweep as half the batsman are lost with a paltry 152 on the board in the first 32 overs. But things took a turn on Wednesday in the last ODI of the series with an unbeaten stand of 152 runs between Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya for the sixth wicket that has turned the tide in their favor. India went on to score 302 runs and won the last ODI by 13 runs. It is great that the venue will remain the same after a couple of days when they will take on Australia in the first T20I as this will be a great psychological boost for the visitors.
The Indian cricketers are also plagued by a lot of problems as they lack the option for a sixth bowler, most of the key bowlers are going through a rough patch and other bowlers cannot bat at all. The visitors are going into the shorter format in which the tour should have kicked off as the players are coming fresh from IPL. But just before the start of the T20I matches, the Indians are looking far more dangerous and a positive bunch.
Hardik Pandya is discovered as a frontline batsman who can steer the team home with a big enough total and can take the mantle of batting at No. 6. Tremendous maturity was shown by the 25-year-old who scored a match-winning 92 off just 76 balls. He took some time to dig the heels and later on at the death unleashed those big shots that are his trademark. The improvement of Pandya as a batsman is the biggest gain that India can take home from the tour up till now.
It was a pleasing sight for Virat Kohli that Jasprit Bumrah returned to form at the International level in the last match. He looked very impressive and castled the very dangerous Glenn Maxwell and the Yorker will augur well for the rest of the series. He is lethal in T20 and by a fair distance, the best bowler in the world for this particular format. T Natarajan also adapted to international cricket and picked up a couple of wickets on his maiden ODI. He is also a Yorker specialist and is a dangerous bowler who can be used by the skipper in crunch situations.
