While other New Zealand batsmen struggled in the first T20I against Australia, Devon Conway put up a batting exhibition and scored an unbeaten 99 off 59 balls at the Hagley Oval in Christchurch. Coming to bat at 11/2, the southpaw paced his innings to perfection on a seam-friendly surface. While he was watchful in the initial half of his innings, the dasher smashed the Aussie bowlers all over the park in the death overs. As a result, the Kiwis posted 184-5 while batting first and went on to win the game by 53 runs. Ravichandran Ashwin was among many netizens lauding Conway’s blitzes. However, the off-spinner added a little IPL auction twist in his praising tweet. Wasim Jaffer Has a Hilarious Take on Australia’s Playing XI Against New Zealand.

“Devon Conway is just 4 days late, but what a knock,” Ashwin tweeted. With “four days late,” the 34-year-old referred to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 players’ auction, which took place in Chennai on February 18 (Thursday). Conway, having set his base price at INR 50 lakh, also went under the hammer, but none of the eight franchises showed any interest in him. Hence, Ashwin reckons that had the swashbuckler played such knock before the auction event, he would have attracted the bidders. IPL 2021 Players Auction: Complete List of Players Sold and Unsold During Indian Premier League 14 Bidding Event.

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Coming to the first T20I, Australia – chasing 185 for victory – got off to a terrible start. Tim Southee and Trent Boult made the new ball talk as dashers like Matthew Wade, Aaron Finch, Marcus Stoinis, and Glenn Maxwell went back for low scores. Although all-rounders Mitchell Marsh and Ashton Agar tried to fight back, leg-spinner Ish Sodhi ran through Australia’s lower order with a four-wicket haul. As a result, the visitors got bundled out for 131 inside 18 overs and suffered a 53-run loss.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 22, 2021 03:35 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).