Match Report: Sweden Continues To Dominate The Bali Bash T20I Tour
By: RF Hobson
Sweden have comfortably won the third Bali Bash T20 International match today by five wickets over Indonesia, motoring down the 136-run target with eight balls to spare.
After successfully chasing for the third straight game, the visitors now enjoy a commanding 3-0 lead in the eight-match T20I series.
Perhaps haunted by their losses in the first and second matches, Indonesia started their innings cautiously and characterized by defensive plays against probing Swedish bowling.
Indonesian opening batsmen Gede Priandana and Ketut Tember stood their ground a little too well, ensuring they toughed it out at the crease against dogged bowling but free-flowing strokes proved difficult.
The pressure was on the home side after Swedish bowler Zain Muzzafar delivered a maiden in the third over and continued to limit the batsmen’s ability to free the arms.
However, their cautious approach ended in the fifth over with Priandana stepping up and scoring a total of five runs and Tember sneaking in a single and topping it off with a morale-boosting six.
Sweden responded with increased pressure which claimed Tember’s scalp two overs later.
Kavid Chadda stepped up to the crease, giving Priandana another chance to boost Indonesia’s score which included two sixes and a boundary until he was caught by bowler Advait Dhabe.
Chadda’s hard-hitting contributions to this partnership included two boundaries and a six.
Priandana’s replacement Gede Arta only managed a single run before he too was dismissed by Dhabe in textbook fashion.
Chadda continued the charge with new partner Kadek Gramantika, who hit a six and a boundary in the 16th over before being caught by Zaid Ahmad off the hardworking Dhabe.
Indonesian captain Danilson Howoe had a short but memorable three-ball cameo, hitting a six before being caught by Yatharth Chauhan off the golden arm of Dhabe, who claimed his fourth wicket.
Chadda and new partner Ketut Artawan held firm until he too was caught by Chauhan, while his replacement Sampath Kharvi was out for a duck with Zaid Ahmad claiming his third wicket.
All that was left for Indonesia was to go the distance, which they achieved with Artawan and Anjar Tadarus lifting them to a total of 135 for 7.
But that score appeared inadequate, with Sweden starting their chase in aggressive fashion with Ajay Mundra hitting four sixes and a boundary within four overs.
Indonesian bowlers Gede Arta, Dhanesh Shetty and Ketut Artawan tried to halt their progress with mixed success, but finally got opening batsman and captain Iman Zuwak caught by Ferdinando Banuaek off Arta.
Zuwak’s replacement Darshan Lakhani fared no better, bowled by the rampant Arta two balls later.
Hungry to dismiss Swedens’s remaining opener, Indonesia switched to Anjar Tadarus to make it happen. But Kadek Gramantika claimed the vital breakthrough, with Mundra exiting the field after a considerable 60 off 32 balls.
However, Sweden continued their steady pace for the next six overs which got them in striking distance to the target until Banuaek caught Saeed Ahmed off the bowling of Gramantika.
The final wicket for Indonesia was batsman Yarthath Chauhan, who was caught by Danesh Shetty.
But it was only a matter of time before the in-form visitors continued their winning form as they gained a stranglehold of the series.