In reply, the hosts were bowled out for 151 in 19.3 overs. India too brought in Hardik Pandya for his worldwide debut, while Jasprit Bumrah was handed his first T20I cap.
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Given little hope following a crushing 4-1 defeat to the same opponents in the recent ODI series, India comfortably defeated Steve Smith’s side with a spirited performance.
Ashwin began in an expensive fashion, giving away 17 runs in the second over of the Australian innings.
But Ravindra Jadeja (2-21) bowled superbly in the middle overs, dismissing Smith in the ninth over, caught at mid-on.
Classy Virat Kohli produced another batting master-class before India spun Australia out of control in a 37-run victory in Tuesday night’s Twenty20 fixture.
Earlier, Rohit Sharma provided India with a brisk start with a rapid 31 off 21 balls before Watson struck twice in his first over.
In 2012, Kohli scored his first Test hundred at the ground and in total he has scored four hundreds at Adelaide, including the one against Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup, at an impressive average of 89.14 in the six matches (across all formats) at the ground. “I couldn’t hit boundaries for a period there, so I take full responsibility for them getting out, as well as Travis Head”, said Finch.
But Australia couldn’t contain Kohli, who reached his half-century from 32 balls and featured in a telling partnership with Suresh Raina (41 from 34 deliveries). Watson’s strikes forced Kohli to slow down a bit, but not for long.
“Our fielding was the thing that cost us a few runs there and didn’t give us that 170-type chase and obviously 18 runs is a lot in T20 cricket”. However, Raina started opening up in the later stages of the innings. It was only in the final over when James Faulkner rattled the stumps to get rid of Raina, who missed out on his fifty by nine runs.
Smith was speaking to the commentary team of Channel Nine just two balls before he got out.
The much-anticipated return of Yuvraj Singh fell short of the batting crease as he didn’t get a chance to bat.
The Australian bowlers were picked apart by Kohli and Suresh Raina, who was dropped for the One-Day Internationals (ODIs). Shaun Tait was expensive in his comeback after four years, with figures of 0 for 45.
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The One Day series has been completed and it was mainly a series that was loved by batsmen as every game has huge scores in the first innings and the team bowling always get hammered.
