One-off T20I: India survive Japanese scare to win by 2 runs in rain-hit match
Seasoned spinner Axar Patel's experience helped India survive a scare as they edged past Japan by two runs in a rain-curtailed one-off T20 International here on Tuesday.
With the match reduced to five overs a side due to inclement weather, the underlying moisture on the pitch produced more turn than expected and narrowed the apparent gulf in experience between the two teams.
India managed only 32 for four in their five overs, hitting just three boundaries, before Japan came close to pulling off a major upset.
Ravi Bishnoi conceded 10 runs in the third over and Washington Sundar gave away seven in the penultimate over, leaving Japan needing eight runs from the final over.
Axar, however, conceded only seven runs in his two overs and kept Japanese batters Shirai Patmore and Benjamin Ito-Davis from finding the boundaries.
The wet outfield also made strokeplay difficult.
In the final over, umpire Chris Thurgate made a few contentious wide calls when left-handed Patmore attempted reverse slogs and missed twice. Indian skipper Shreyas Iyer complained to leg-umpire Chris Brown, following which the second wide was overturned.
The result was a narrow escape for India, with the shortened game and the slow, turning surface making the contest far more unpredictable than the teams' respective rankings and experience suggested.
Unlike the Aichi-Nagoya pitch where India's women's team produced a power-packed batting performance en route to the Asian Games gold medal, the Sano surface offered little for conventional T20 strokeplay.
Earlier, Japan's relatively inexperienced spin attack troubled India's star-studded batting line-up and restricted them to a below-par total.
Left-arm spinner Charlie Hara Hinze and off-spinner Ibrahim Takahashi made the most of the moisture and turn, claiming two and one wickets respectively.
Hara-Hinze dismissed Abhishek Sharma for a duck after the Indian opener mistimed a slog sweep, while Takahashi deceived Sanju Samson with a flighted delivery, with the batter's heave ending at the mid-wicket boundary.
Benjamin Ito-Davis then dismissed Ishan Kishan for three after the Indian left-hander repeatedly tried to hit against the turn and eventually ballooned a catch to mid-off.
Shreyas Iyer top-scored for India with 16 and hit one boundary, but even he struggled to find the gaps as the slow pitch made it difficult to hit across the line.
With only five overs available, India had little opportunity to recover from the early setbacks.
Japan's three spinners and captain Kendel Kadowaki-Fleming deserve credit for reading the conditions well at a venue where the home side plays its matches.
