2nd T20I: Marauding Maxwell fires Australia to maiden T20 series win over India
Bengaluru, Feb 27: Glenn Maxwell fired Australia to their maiden T20 series win over India with a sensational hundred, overshadowing India skipper Virat Kohli's special effort in the second and final match here on Wednesday.
Maxwell (113 not out off 55 balls) went on a rampage, smashing as many as nine sixes on way to his third century in the shortest format. He took the game away from India, who should have defended 190 for four after Kohli and Mahendra Singh Dhoni shared a 100-run stand for the fourth wicket to take the hosts to a competitive total.
In the end, Australia cantered to a famous seven-wicket win with Maxwell fittingly finishing the game with a six and four.
Prior to the game, Australia had never beaten India in a T20 series, home or away. They had beaten India way back in 2008 at Melbourne but that was a one-off game.
The visitors kept themselves in the chase despite a wobbly start which saw them being reduced to 22 for two in four overs.
Opener D'Arcy Short and Maxwell shared a 73-run standoff 43 balls to keep the game on even knell before the former fell in the 12th over.
India had to defend with only five bowling options which required all-rounder Vijay Shankar to complete his quote of four overs.
Shankar (2/38), who did not bowl in his last three T20s, put up a decent effort, picking up wickets of Short and Finch. Short could not last long after being dropped on 36 by Rishabh Pant.
Australia remained very much in the game with Maxwell plundering the Indian attack in the middle.
It was anyone's game as Australia needed 60 off the last 30 balls with seven wickets in hand.
Maxwell smashed Yuzvendra Chahal for two handsome sixes, including a spectacular reverse hit, to tilt the game in Australia's favour.
Earlier, skipper Kohli and Dhoni delighted the Chinnaswamy crowd with a 100-run stand.
Kohli led from the front in a must-win tie, hammering an unbeaten 72 off 38 balls in a knock including half a dozen sixes while Dhoni played the supporting role well with 40 off 23 balls.
It was a typical Dhoni innings that comprised three fours and as many sixes and came after a rather slow 29 off 37 balls in Vizag on Sunday night.
Opener K L Rahul was amongst runs again, scoring 47 off 26 in front of his home crowd.
Considering the pitch wore a greenish look, India brought in pace all-rounder Vijay Shankar in place of spinner Mayank Markande while fast bowler Umesh Yadav made way for Siddharth Kaul.
India made a third change by resting Rohit Sharma and bringing back Shikhar Dhawan to open alongside Rahul. The southpaw was rested from the series opener.
With a series win at stake, Australia opted to field for the second game in row.
The home team got a move on in the third over of the innings bowled by left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff.
Local hero Rahul slashed a short and wide ball between cover and point before Dhawan flicked one off pads for another four with the over going for 12 runs.
The fifth over was even more productive for India as pacer Jhye Richardson conceded 15 runs after Rahul dispatched him for consecutive sixes, a top edge that flew over over deep fine leg and a crisp drive that went all the way over cover.
The stylish Karnataka batsman, who recently went through a rough patch both on and off the field, was back in his elements.
Rahul meted out similar punishment to Pat Cummins in the following over, hitting him for back-to-back sixes.
His sublime strokeplay seemed effortless but it was no mean feat to pull a bowler of Cummins' pace over backward square leg a ball after he whipped the Australian for a six over deep midwicket. India reached 53 for no loss in six overs.
With Dhawan a mere spectator at the other end, a third hundred in T20 Internationals for Rahul was very much on the cards before he fell to a soft dismissal, trying to guide a slower one off Nathan Coulter-Nile over third man only to be caught by Richardson.
A struggling Dhawan too departed soon after, albeit to a questionable running catch in the deep from Marcus Stoinis after the on-field umpire referred the decision to the third umpire following his soft signal.
Rishabh Pant's early dismissal made it 74 for three in the 11th over as he mistimed one off chinaman D'Arcy Short and Richardson pulled off a sensational diving catch at long off.
Two quick dismissals brought two heavyweights -- Kohli and Dhoni -- in the middle. They enjoy batting together and that came to the fore as they completed a 50-run partnership off 29 balls.
Dhoni, who was criticised for his knock on Sunday, showed more intent from the word go as he began with a six over mid wicket off Short.
Kohli kept himself busy by rotating the strike early in his innings. He went ballistic in the 16th over that leaked 22 runs as he smashed Coulter-Nile for three sixes in a row before completing his 20th fifty in the shortest format.
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How Manmohan Singh defended landmark 1991 Union budget
New Delhi (PTI): Manmohan Singh, the architect of India's economic reforms, had to literally face a trial-by-fire to ensure widespread acceptance of his path-breaking 1991 Union budget that saw the nation rise from its darkest financial crises.
Singh, the newly-appointed finance minister in the PV Narasimha Rao-led government, did it with great elan -- from facing journalists at a post-budget press conference to irate Congress leaders unable to digest the wide-ranging reforms at the parliamentary party meeting.
Singh's historic reforms not only rescued India from near bankruptcy but also redefined its trajectory as a rising global power.
Singh made an unscheduled appearance at a press conference on July 25, 1991, a day after the presentation of the Union budget, "to ensure that the message of his budget did not get distorted by less-than-enthusiastic officials", Congress leader Jairam Ramesh wrote in his book "To the Brink and Back: India's 1991 Story" that recounts the fast-paced changes that took place after Rao became prime minister in June 1991.
"The finance minister explained his budget -- calling it 'a budget with a human face'. He painstakingly defended the proposals to increase fertiliser, petrol and LPG prices," Ramesh recounted in the book published in 2015.
Ramesh was an aide to Rao during his initial months in office.
Sensing the disquiet in the Congress ranks, Rao called a meeting of the Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) on August 1, 1991, and decided to allow party MPs to "vent their spleen freely".
"The prime minister stayed away and allowed Manmohan Singh to face the flak on his own," Ramesh wrote, adding that two more meetings took place on August 2 and 3, in which Rao was present throughout.
"In the CPP meetings, the finance minister cut a lonely figure and the prime minister did nothing to alleviate his distress," Ramesh recounted.
Only two MPs -- Mani Shankar Aiyar and Nathuram Mirdha -- backed Singh's budget wholeheartedly.
Aiyar had supported the budget, contending that it conformed to Rajiv Gandhi's beliefs on what needed to be done to stave off the financial crisis.
Bowing to pressure from the party, Singh had agreed to lower the 40 per cent increase in fertiliser prices to 30 per cent but had left the hike in LPG and petrol prices untouched.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs met twice on August 4 and 5, 1991, to decide on the statement Singh would make in the Lok Sabha on August 6.
"The statement dropped the idea of a rollback, which had been demanded over the past few days but now spoke of protecting the interests of small and marginal farmers," Ramesh said in his book.
"Both sides had won. The party had forced a rethink but the fundamentals of what the government wanted -- the decontrol of prices of fertilisers other than urea and an increase in urea prices -- had been preserved," he recounted.
"This was political economy at its constructive best -- a textbook example of how the government and the party can collaborate to create a win-win situation for both," he added in the book.
