08:27
Preamble
And then there was one. One more game to go. One T20 International left in the Australia-India multiformat series, the first time the Australians have used this format outside the Ashes. Which is great, because England and now Australia have played Test matches against India in the last few months, and hopefully that’s a step towards seeing more of it, and seeing it better supported by cricket boards.
Australia have won this series already, leading 9 points to 5 across the matches so far. But India can count themselves very unlucky. They lost one 50-over match in the final over trying to bowl with a slippery ball. They were well on top in the Test match and the first T20, only to be denied by rain both times. And they lost a close one last night in the second T20. They also had fielding mishaps and captaincy mistakes at key moments that didn’t help. But even despite those, they probably would have won this series if not for rain. It hasn’t been a performance of dominance by the world champs.
So here is one last chance to make a statement. To at least close up the margin and make it better reflect the closeness. Or, the Australians might be bubbly after sealing the win and India might be flat, so it could slide the other way hard. Who knows? This series has defied prediction throughout.
