Josh Inglis smashed Australia's joint-fastest century in Twenty20 Internationals before Suryakumar Yadav powered India to a two-wicket victory in a thrilling series opener on Thursday.
Suryakumar, captaining India for the first time, hit an assured knock of 80 as the hosts chased down 208 in Visakhapatnam and secured a small measure of revenge for their painful defeat by Australia in the 50-overs World Cup final on Sunday.
Ishan Kishan (58) and Suryakumar shared a 112-run partnership, but India lost momentum after both players departed and the chase went down to the final ball of the match when Rinku Singh guided his team over the line.
What A Game!
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 23, 2023
What A Finish!
What Drama!
1 run to win on the last ball and it's a NO BALL that seals #TeamIndia's win in the first #INDvAUS T20I! 👏 👏
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/T64UnGxiJU @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/J4hvk0bWGN
A captaincy debut to remember for Suryakumar Yadav in international cricket! 👏 👏
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 23, 2023
He bags the Player of the Match award as #TeamIndia beat Australia in a thriller to take 1-0 lead in the series. 👌 👌
Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/T64UnGxiJU #INDvAUS | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/czB6X6co0G
"Credit goes to (Suryakumar) for the way he played. He was taking on the bowlers," Kishan said.
"The communication was very good. I'm really happy because it's a young side. We'll make mistakes, but hopefully we'll come back stronger as a bowling unit."
Australia had racked up an impressive total after being put in to bat after Inglis hit 11 fours and eight sixes in his 110 from 50 balls.
The 28-year-old's century came from 47 balls, tying Aaron Finch's Australian record.
✅ Maiden T20I hundred
— ICC (@ICC) November 23, 2023
✅ Joint-fastest by an Australian in men's T20Is
Josh Inglis produced a brilliant innings in Vizag 🎉#INDvAUS | 📝: https://t.co/swsjiTkHZG pic.twitter.com/4p52ZwWnG1
Inglis was ably supported by Steve Smith (52), another of the seven players from Australia's World Cup-winning squad to remain in India for the T20 series, in a 130-run second-wicket partnership.
The second match in the five-game series is in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
India: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Ishan Kishan (wk), Suryakumar Yadav (capt), Tilak Varma, Rinku Singh, Axar Patel, Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna
Australia: Matthew Short, Steven Smith, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie, Marcus Stoinis, Tim David, Matthew Wade (capt, wk), Sean Abbott, Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Tanveer Sangha