T20 World Cup: Shami’s final over heroics see India trump Australia

Brisbane, October 17

Mohammad Shami put the concerns over his fitness to rest with a sensational final over as India pulled off a six-run win over Australia in a warm-up fixture ahead of the T20 World Cup here today.

KL Rahul (57 off 33 balls) and Suryakumar Yadav (50 off 33 balls) smashed entertaining half-centuries to power India to 186/7 after Australia had opted to bowl at the Gabba.

Needing 16 runs off the last 12 balls with six wickets in hand, Australia were on course for a comfortable win before Shami, Harshal Patel and Virat Kohli scripted a turnaround for India.

Shami, who last played a competitive game in July and had suffered a long bout of Covid, turned up to bowl the last over of the game and made a decisive impact.

Drafted into the squad as a replacement for the injured Jasprit Bumrah, he landed yorkers and ended up with three wickets besides a run-out.

In the penultimate over, under-fire Patel delivered after being hammered early on as he conceded only five runs in an over that also included a brilliant run-out from Kohli’s direct hit.

The star India batter also plucked out a stunning one-handed catch at the boundary line to dismiss Pat Cummins.

However, the concerns over India’s bowling remain ahead of their opener against Pakistan on Sunday.

“There is room for improvement, but I want more consistency from the bowlers. You need to keep things simple and hit the deck hard. Overall a good game for us, they had a decent partnership and that put us under pressure,” said skipper Rohit Sharma.