A blistering knock from Mitch Marsh and a spell of the highest quality for Josh Hazlewood has guided Australia to a four-wicket victory against India at the MCG on Friday night.
A massive crowd of 82,438 packed into watch India crumble to 125 all out despite opener Abhishek Sharma’s superb half-century before Australia reeled in the target with x balls to spare.
Marsh smashed 46 from 26 deliveries, including a 124 metre six into the second tier, to top score for the Australians.
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The skipper delivered a brutal display of hitting as he and opening partner Travis Head (28 off 15) broke the back of the chase by smashing 51 off the first 27 balls of the innings.
In that stretch, Jasprit Bumrah even conceded 18 runs off an over that stood in stark contrast to the wizardry he showcased in last summer’s Border Gavaskar Trophy.
The champion speedster fought back late, however, with two wickets in two balls to dismiss Mitchell Owen and Matt Short when Australia needed just two to win.
Josh Inglis chipped in with 20 off 20, but Australia’s late wobble highlighted how costly India’s lack of fight with the bat was.
Sharma’s excellent innings of 68 off 37 balls was responsible for more than half of the visitors’ total as Hazlewood tore through their top order.
The Australian quick took three top order wickets after Marsh won the toss and elected to bowl first yet again.
Harshit Rana (35 from 33 balls) was the only other Indian batter to reach double digits as Australia’s bowlers reaped havoc.
Nathan Ellis (2/21) and Xavier Bartlett (2/39) both took multiple scalps, while Marcus Stoinis (1/24) also picked up a wicket.
There were also two run outs just to rub salt into Indian wounds as they endured two collapses at either end of the innings.
India lost 5/29 and 5/20 either side of Sharma and Rana’s 56-run stand.
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Read below for the biggest talking points out of the clash!
Marsh’s MCG
For eight overs on Friday night, Mitchell Marsh was king of the MCG.
It is something many thought would never have happened back in 2018 against the same opposition, when the all-rounder was booed on Boxing Day.
Victorians showed their anger that Marsh took the place of one of their own, Peter Handscomb.
This time around, they showed their utter amazement at the Australian skipper’s brutal hitting power.
Marsh smacked 46 from 26 balls, including four sixes, to break the back of the small run chase.
“A throughly entertaining innings from the Australian captain,” Ravi Shastri said on Fox Cricket’s commentary.
“He’s put his side in a great position.”
The fireworks started with a pick up pull shot that was launched into the second level of the Olympic stand and measured 124 metres long.
If the grandstand had not have been in the way, it would have landed onto the concourse and bounced into Yarra Park.
It must surely have been one of the biggest sixes ever hit at the famous ground.
If Simon O’Donnell was in the stands, he may have been worried for a brief second that his famous seat was about to be moved.
The destruction continued when Kuldeep Yadav came on to bowl.
Marsh bludgeoned 20 off his first over, including one big bombs into the Shane Warne Stand and another straight into the sight screen.
He fell from the left arm leg spinner’s final ball, skying a catch trying to keep the entertainment going, but the damage was done.
“It’s the pressure he puts on bowlers,” Adam Gilchrist said.
“Miss your line, miss your length and he will punish you.”
Perhaps forgotten among the rapidness of his innings, was that early on when Marsh casually milked a single to move to four, he became only the fourth Australian male to reach 2,000 runs in T20 internationals.
He joins David Warner, Aaron Finch and Glenn Maxwell in that club.
His innings may not have tallied as many runs as those three have at the MCG, but it created the same looks of disbelief in the crowd with the shot-making they were witnessing.
Becoming a fan favourite in Melbourne is emblematic of just how far Marsh has come in his career.
His innings on Friday night was one of a batter in a great headspace.
Understandably, the talk of him being thrust back into the Test side may come while he is seeing them like beach balls.
For now at least, Marsh has well and truly earned those six beers before lunch on day one in Perth, even with three games remaining in this T20 series.
Good luck, England
England’s batters do not stand a chance in the first Ashes Test in Perth if Josh Hazlewood has the ball talking like he did at the MCG.
Hazlewood ripped the Indian top order to shreds with one of the finest spells of bowling ever seen in T20 cricket on these shores.
The big quick’s three overs in the powerplay from the Members End yielded three wickets and conceded just six runs.
He had the white Kookaburra nipping around as if it was Boxing Day morning, not a bilateral T20 international where batters are supposed to feast.
Hazlewood thought he had a wicket first ball of the match, stunning the pro-India crowd by trapping Shubman Gill lbw with a trademark nip-backer.
Ball-tracking showed the ball to be bouncing over the top of leg stump, handing the Indian Test and ODI skipper a reprieve.
He might not have wanted it.
Two balls later, the extra bounce caused his problems again as a vicious Hazlewood bouncer beat Gill for pace and hit him flush on the badge on his helmet.
Gill was thankfully okay to continue, but he did not last much longer, falling to Hazlewood for 5 as he failed to clear Mitch Marsh at mid-off.
Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav then felt the full force of Hazlewood in full flight as he was dropped and then dismissed in consecutive balls.
Another sharply rising delivery caught Yadav’s glove and flew down the leg side, but gloveman Josh Inglis could not hang on.
He made no mistake seconds later, however, as Hazlewood found the outside edge to leave India reeling four wickets down inside the powerplay.
Marsh made the aggressive move of keeping his star seamer going for a fourth and final over to try to remove Abhishek Sharma.
It almost paid off immediately, but Sharma’s edge sailed wide of a diving Inglis and ran to the rope for four.
With the field spread, Hazlewood’s final over conceded seven runs.
He finished with figures of 3/13 from his four overs.
For those who believe that T20 form does not translate to Test cricket, Hazlewood’s former teammate David Warner dismissed that viewpoint saying the quick’s performance was straight out of the red ball play book.
“He’s just bowled Test match line and length,” Warner said on Fox Cricket’s commentary.
“It’s just simple basics from Josh Hazlewood.
“It’s what he’s always done. It’s what he always delivers.”
It was also just rewards for Hazlewood against India after taking just three wickets in the ODI series despite bowling beautifully.
In the second ODI at the Adelaide Oval, Hazlewood finished with 0-29 from his ten overs, the most economic spell by an Australian seamer who went wicketless in an ODI since 2011.
He bowled 43 dot balls that afternoon as the batters played and missed 21 times, while he drew six edges and a false shot percentage of 45.
“He’s just had no luck, and today he’s turned it around,” Ravi Shastri said.
Abhishek announces himself on Aussie shores
Less than a week after Australia bid farewell to Indian great Rohit Sharma, they were properly introduced to a 25-year-old namesake who has been making waves on the subcontinent.
Abhishek Sharma smashed 68 off 37, more than half of his team’s total while his top order colleagues crumbled around him.
“Who knows where they would be without him?” Australian great Adam Gilchrist probed on commentary as Sharma walked off the MCG after falling lbw to Nathan Ellis.
The dashing left-hander did not shy away from his attacking principles as Josh Hazlewood tormented his batting partner at the other end.
He gave the big Indian crowd plenty to cheer about as wickets tumbled, helping take 17 off Xavier Bartlett’s first over, including launching a six over wide mid off into the Shane Warne Stand.
Sharma needed only 23 balls to bring up his half-century, hitting eight fours as well as two sixes in his innings.
The Australians were not unfamiliar with his work, nor were the fans wearing blue smattered around the MCG.
He already has two T20 international hundreds to his name and has been a sensation in the Indian Premier League as Travis Heads’s sidekick opening the batting for Sunrisers Hyderabad.
This knock announced himself to Australian fans, however.
Cricket fans in this country have always admired players who perform when their teams’ backs are against the wall.
Sharma did exactly that, showing he has a lot more to his weaponry than blasting helpless bowlers on flat pitches.
“Brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” Ravi Shastri said on commentary.
“To play 37 balls and get 68 in these conditions, especially with wickets falling around him.
“A big hand and a good hand for Abhishek Sharma.”
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