IND vs AUS: Aaron Hardie bowls joint Most Expensive T20I spell for Australia

Australia’s fast bowler Aaron Hardie had a bad day at the office as he conceded too many runs against Team India in the third T20I at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati. The right-arm fast bowler failed to adopt risky or aggressive tactics, like attempting yorkers or slower deliveries. As a result, his deliveries created many boundary opportunities for the Indian batsmen.

Apart from Jason Behrendorff, all other Australian bowlers leaked runs and among them, Aaron Hardie was the one who conceded the most runs. In the process, he created an unwanted record for Australia in the shortest format of the game. He dismissed Suryakumar Yadav for 39 runs, which was his only wicket in the game and apart from that, he conceded 64 runs in his full quota of 4 overs.

Aaron Hardie registers an unwanted record for Australia

The 24-year-old bowler bowled the joint-most expensive T20I spell for Australia. Andrew Tye once registered the most expensive spell for Australia as he recorded expensive bowling figures of 2/64 against New Zealand in Auckland in 2018 before it was equalled by Aaron Hardie who registered 1/64 against India in the third T20I in Guwahati.

Mitchell Starc bowled the third-most expensive bowling spell for Australia in T20Is as he registered 0/60 against New Zealand in Dubai in 2021. Kane Richardson registered 0/59 against England in Birmingham in 2018, which is the fourth-most expensive spell for Australia whereas Riley Meredith bowled the fifth-most expensive spell for Australia as he registered 1/57 against West Indies in 2021.

Talking about the game, Team India posted 222/3 in their quota of 20 overs, courtesy of Ruturaj Gaikwad’s maiden T20I century. He remained unbeaten on 123* off 57 balls, in which he slammed as many as 13 fours and 7 sixes during his stay at the crease. In reply, Australia put up a sensational fight in the run-chase with the help of Glenn Maxwell’s destructive batting display.

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Maxwell scored an unbeaten 104 off 48 balls with the help of 8 fours and 8 hits over the fence at a strike rate of 216.67. His match-winning century helped Australia ace the run-chase as they won the game by 5 wickets. Australia still remain alive in the series with two more games to go. Currently, India leads the series by 2-1.