1st T20I: Ton-up Inglis guides Australia to 208/3 against India
Australia racked up a mammoth 208/3 against India in the 1st T20I in Visakhapatnam. Top-order batter Josh Inglis (110) played a blistering knock to decimate the Indian bowling attack. He shared a century stand with half-centurion Steven Smith (52) before smashing the joint-fastest T20I ton for Australia. Tim David's late flourish powered Australia, while the Indian bowlers duly took a beating.
Australia score 40/1 in Powerplay
Australia had a superb start after India elected to field. According to Cricbuzz, Smith opened the batting for the first time in international cricket. While Smith dealt in boundaries, his opening partner Matthew Short became India's first breakthrough in the fifth over. Australia scored 40/1 in the first six overs. Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Ravi Bishnoi, and Axar Patel bowled in this phase.
A power-packed knock from Inglis
Inglis joined Smith in the middle after Australia lost Short for 31 runs on the board. The former went after the Indian bowlers. He smashed 19 runs off the eighth over bowled by Prasidh. Inglis also hammered a flurry of boundaries against Bishnoi in the middle overs. He eventually smashed a 50-ball 110, his maiden T20I ton (11 fours and 8 sixes).
Josh Inglis smashes joint-fastest T20I century for Australia
Inglis went on to slam the joint-fastest ton by an Australian batter in T20 Internationals. He equaled the record of former captain Aaron Finch, who hammered a 47-ball ton against England in 2013 in Southampton. Notably, Glenn Maxwell is the only other Australian to have scored a T20I ton in less than 50 balls (49 balls vs Sri Lanka, 2016).
Australia's fastest T20I centurion against India
According to Bharath Seervi, Inglis has become Australia's fastest centurion against India in T20I cricket. He went past Maxwell, who smashed a 50-ball ton against India in 2019. Overall, the one from Inglis was the second-fastest T20I ton against India after David Miller (46 balls).
His maiden international century
It is worth noting that Inglis hammered his maiden century in international cricket. Before the 1st T20I, he had only two half-centuries in One-Day Internationals. This means Inglis slammed his maiden fifty-plus score in the shortest international format. He now has 375 runs from 13 T20Is at an average of 34.09. The dasher has a strike rate of 34.09 in the format.
Smith's fifth T20I half-century
Smith came out of his comfort zone and displayed his attacking strokes throughout the innings. He smashed a 41-ball 52, a knock laced with eight fours. Smith, who laid a solid platform for Australia, departed in the 16th over through a run-out. The right-handed batter recorded his fifth half-century in the shortest format. He now owns 1,060 T20I runs at 25.85.
A forgettable evening for the Indian bowlers
Only Prasidh and Bishnoi managed to open their accounts in terms of wickets. The duo took a wicket each. Interestingly, both of them conceded more than 50 runs in four overs. Arshdeep also leaked in excess of 40 runs in four overs (41/0). Meanwhile, Axar Patel (32/0) and Mukesh Kumar (29/0) had better numbers. Mukesh conceded just five runs in the innings' final over.
Unwanted records for the Indian bowlers
As per Bharath Seervi, this was just the fourth instance of two Indian bowlers conceding 50+ runs in a T20I. Notably, Bishnoi conceded the joint third-most runs by an Indian spinner in a T20I.
