As India beat Australia in the second T20I of the ongoing three-match series, Virat Kohli became the first Indian captain to win series in all three formats of the game in Australia. Apparently, no one Asian captain has achieved the landmark till date.
Kohli had led India to a 2-1 win in the 2018-19 Test series and followed that up with a 2-1 win in the ODI series. Now under his captaincy, India has gained an unassailable 2-0 lead in the ongoing T20I series.
While India had drawn the T20 series on that last tour, they managed to clinch it this time by winning the first two matches. The third match takes place on Tuesday at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
India had won a T20 series in 2016, when MS Dhoni’s side won it 3-0. Dhoni had also led India to a triangular series win in Australia in 2007-08 season.
Despite bringing India success in white-ball cricket, Dhoni’s team always failer to emulate the same in Test cricket. His team had suffered the embarassing 4-0 whitewash in the 2011-12 series.
Dhoni also lost the ODI series 4-1 in 2015-16. Dhoni also jointly led the Indian side in the 2014-15 series where India lost 2-0.
It should also be noted, that no other Test playing nation from Asia – Pakistan, Sri Lanka or Bangladesh have won a series in the longest format Down Under.
Meanwhile, Hardik Pandya took the limelights again as he smashed two sixes in the last over to help India win the second T20I of the three-match series against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday
Shikhar Dhawan’s 52 and captain Virat Kohli’s 40 along with a 22-ball 30 from K.L. Rahul helped India bring the equation down to 14 runs needed off the last over in their chase of a target of 195.
Pandya, who had back-to-backk fours in the second last over bowled by Andrew Tye, was on strike against Daniel Sams and took two runs off the first ball. He then hit the second ball wide of long-on and cleared the boundary.