India captain Virat Kohli registered his 25th half century in the shortest format in international cricket in the 3rd T20I against Australia on Tuesday in Sydney, but it was not enough to help his team chase down the total of 187 set up by Australia. After winning the toss and electing to bowl first in the dead rubber, but riding on Matthew Wade’s 53-ball 80, Australia posted a total of 186/5 in 20 overs.
Kohli had to come down to the middle early on in chase with allrounder Glenn Maxwell getting rid of KL Rahul on the 2nd ball of the first over. Kohli started slow, but as wickets started tumbling on the other end, the India skipper started hitting his shots.
The batsman first went on to register his 25th 50+score in T20Is, equalling Rohit Sharma’s record of most 50+ scores in T20Is by any player. Kohli also went on to register his 300th T20 six – becoming only the fourth Indian player after MS Dhoni (302), Suresh Raina (311), Rohit (380), to reach the mark.
But wickets continued to fall on the other end – and when Hardik Pandya was dismissed by 20 by Adam Zampa, it was all on Kohli to get the job done with the visitors still needing 43 to win in 3 overs.
The pressure got to Kohli and he gave away his wicket to pacer Andrew Tye for 85. The dismissal sealed the fate of the match, and India fell short by 12 runs as Australia pulled off a consolation win, but still losing the series 2-1.
This is India’s first defeat in 12 T20Is, their previous defeat in the shortest format was against West Indies in Trivandrum in December, 2019. It is also the first defeat for India away from home in 11 T20Is since losing to New Zealand in Hamilton in February 2019.
