Concussion replacements are a strange thing, today it worked for us: Virat Kohli after Canberra triumph

Tags: India tour of Australia, 2020-21, Australia vs India, 1st T20I at Brisbane, Dec 04, 2020, India, Australia, Yuzvendra Singh Chahal

Published on: Dec 04, 2020

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Team India leg-spinner Yuvzendra Chahal began the day by finding himself out of the playing eleven for the first T20I against Australia. He ended it as man of the match. If you did not follow proceedings at the Manuka Oval on Friday, you wouldn’t believe what transpired. Chahal came in as concussion substitute for Ravindra Jadeja and picked up 3 for 25 to sink Australia’s chase of 162. Earlier, Jadeja blazed away to an unbeaten 44 from 23 to lift India to a competitive total.

Along with vice-captain KL Rahul, who contributed 51, Jadeja kept India in the hunt. With the ball, Chahal then dismissed Australian skipper Aaron Finch and Steve Smith to put India on top. He later returned to claim a third wicket of Matthew Wade as well.

T Natarajan also made an impressive T20I debut for India with figures of 3 for 30 as Australia could not find the balance in the chase. Natarajan trapped the dangerous Glenn Maxwell lbw, and then added the scalps of D’Arcy Short and Mitchell Starc to further trouble the hosts

Man of the Match Chahal described the turnaround in his day as a great feeling. “No pressure for me when we were batting then I got to know I was going to play. Ten to 15 minutes before I got to know I would play. I learnt from my ODI mistake where I bowled with some flight. In the first innings it was a bit hard to score against their spinners, and I bowled according to my plans," he explained.

Aussie skipper Finch did not make an issue out of the Chahal substitution controversy. “They (India) let us know their doctor had ruled Jadeja out with concussion and you aren't challenging a medical expert in that regard. We probably leaked a few too many runs at the end and then in the middle phase struggled to hit boundaries," he added.

Indian skipper Virat Kohli was all praise for the team after they won the match despite having crumbled to 92 for 5 batting first.

“He (Chahal) came in and bowled really well. The pitch offered him enough. We showed character to fight back. I thought they had a great start and they were cruising to be honest. That's how T20 goes, we put enough pressure on them, but you need a bit of luck," Kohli said.

On Jadeja’s injury, Kohli revealed, "Jaddu got a knock on the side of a head and was a bit dizzy and still is. Concussion replacements are a strange thing, today it worked for us maybe another time he wouldn't have found a like-for-like.”

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