In home conditions at least, the future of India's batting in T20 cricket appears to be in good hands.
Captain Suryakumar Yadav managed only 19 on a pitch that was on the slower side, after Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first. Yet, India managed a massive 235/4 in the second T20I in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday as the youngsters in this group stood up and delivered.
Chasing a victory target of 236 was too tall a task for the Australians. Marcus Stoinis and Tim David did try and put up a fight, but Australia could only get to 191/9 as India sealed a 44-run win to go 2-0 up in the series.
Leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi (3/32) then tightened the screws further on Australia, who were never really in the game despite Stoinis and David's 81-run counterattacking partnership for the fifth wicket. In the end though, it boils down to the performances of openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (53) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (58), Ishan Kishan (52) and Rinku Singh (31 not out) that eventually made the difference.
These batsmen took no half-measures whenever the Australians pitched the ball in their arc. Death-overs batting was at its best as the Indians pummelled 111 off the last seven overs of their innings.
It was the left-handed Jaiswal, who gave India the thrust they required in the Powerplay, hammering Sean Abbott for three boundaries and couple of maximums — all proper cricketing strokes — in the fourth over of the game, which cost Australia 24.
Jaiswal, who made his international debut earlier this year in the Caribbean after a very successful IPL with Rajasthan Royals, simply set the tone for India with his 25-ball innings that comprised nine boundaries and two sixes.
In fact, the platform Jaiswal had laid helped Gaikwad and No.3 Kishan to be a tad watchful against the opponents' spin duo of Adam Zampa and Tanveer Sangha. With spinners getting some help from the pitch, Gaikwad focused on holding one end up, but Kishan took on the rival bowlers once he had his eye in.
The left-hander got into the right positions which helped him execute his strokes well and also register back-to-back half-centuries in the series. India's scoring rate had dipped below 10 an over following Jaiswal's dismissal, but Kishan's strokeplay lifted it close to 11 once again.
Australia, with their quicks lacking in discipline and the bowling attack missing the experience of Jason Behrendorff (who was surprisingly benched to include Zampa), might have felt a tad relieved when Surya perished for not too many. But then, the promising Rinku, helping India home in last Thursday's tense finish, was on the ball once again with a perfect piece of slog-over batting in his nine-ball knock.
Alongside the batters, Bishnoi, too, deserves credit as his spell was certainly one of the factors to influence such an outcome. Just like he had done in the first T20I, Bishnoi again knocked over opener Matthew Short in his opening over. But unlike last Thursday, he cut down drastically on freebies, something that was crucial in earning him two more scalps.
Both those scalps, that of last match's centurion Josh Inglis and David, came out crucial phases. Bowling the correct length, Bishnoi induced mishits from the two batsmen who were both crucial to Australia's run chase.
Axar Patel, too, contributed with the big scalp of Glenn Maxwell (who had replaced Aaron Hardie), varying his pace and length a little bit.
