Australia vs India 2nd T20I: Shivam Dube's world record winning streak ends at the MCG

Streaks are meant to be broken. Ask the Australian women's side whose 15-match unbeaten run in ODI World Cups ended due to India's world record run chase in the second semifinal on Thursday (October 30). A day later, the Australia men's side gave their Indian counterparts a four-wicket defeat at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, thereby ending Shivam Dube's incredible streak.

 

Dube made his T20I debut in 2019 and India lost two of the first five games that he played in the format. However, since then they had been on a 37-game unbeaten streak across six years with 31 wins, 4 ties and 3 no-results. All the tied games were also won by India in the Super Over, making it a world record by some distance for Dube.

 

It was a forgettable game for Dube personally too, as he fell off the second ball after having found the boundary off his first delivery. At a time when India needed him to support Abhishek Sharma, the Mumbai lad was undone by Xavier Bartlett as India imploded in the death overs to end on a low total.

 

Sharma's 37-ball 68 was a display of fearless batting and smart use of the conditions on offer even as his teammates made a mess at the other end. India weren't able to cope with the extra pace and bounce of the MCG surface, with many batters being late on the shot against Australia's quicks.

 

Josh Hazlewood with 3-13 was the standout bowler for the hosts while Nathan Ellis (2-21) also did an effective job. With such a low total to chase, Australia's openers were in a hurry to end the game in a jiffy. Mitchell Marsh (46 off 26) and Travis Head (28 off 15) did their usual job of maximising the powerplay as 56 runs came off it for the loss of the left-hander's wicket.

 

Marsh too fell shortly after as the Aussies gifted wickets in pursuit of playing the glory shots. Varun Chakaravarthy picked up two wickets but India's bowlers were mostly off the mark in their lines and lengths. Having just 125 to defend didn't help either, as the home side coasted to a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

 

The next match of the series will be at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Sunday (November 2).

 

Brief scores: India 125 in 18.4 overs (Abhishek Sharma 68; Josh Hazlewood 3-13, Nathan Ellis 2-21) lost to Australia 126/6 in 13.2 overs (Mitchell Marsh 46; Varun Chakaravarthy 2-23) by four wickets

 

 

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