CHENNAI: On the Carrara pitch in Gold Coast, termed a sub-continental wicket ahead of the toss by captain Suryakumar Yadav, India were asked to bat by Australia in the penultimate game of five-match T20I series on Thursday. The visitors, who went into the match unchanged, posted 167/8. The total was considered slightly below par at the break but it proved more than enough by the time the match got over.
With the pitch resembling an Indian one, the visiting spinners called the shots when the hosts came out for chase. Varun Chakravarthy, Axar Patel and Washington Sundar shared six wickets between them as India bowled out Australia for 119 in 18.2 overs to register a big 48-run win and take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the series. The last match of the series will be played in Brisbane on Saturday.
Brought into attack in the fifth over with the hosts going strong, Axar made an instant impact as he trapped opener Matthew Short. With the umpire not convinced, Yadav reviewed the decision and it gave India their first success. The dismissal slowed down Australia's run rate as they could score only 30 runs in the next four overs.
Wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis tried to up the ante and stepped down the pitch only to lose his middle stump. With Inglis playing across the line, Axar darted one on to the stumps to send back the Aussie batter. The twin strikes came after the Gujarat all-rounder had given impetus to India's innings in the death overs scoring 21 off just 11 balls. Given the all-round impact he had on the game, Axar was later adjudged player of the match.
All-rounder Shivam Dube then struck twice in his next two overs to claim the wickets of captain Mitchell Marsh and the big-hitting Tim David. India pacers also joined the party with Arshdeep Singh accounting for Josh Philippe and Jasprit Bumrah claiming the wicket of Ben Dwarshuis. In between, Chakravarthy sent back Glenn Maxwell while Washington claimed wickets of Marcus Stoinis and Xavier Bartlett.
Earlier, explosive batter Abhishek Sharma (28) was dropped by Bartlett off the second ball of the innings and that proved costly for Marsh and Co. He along with vice-captain Shubman Gill (46) added 56 inside seven overs to give India a good start. They did lose the momentum in the middle and death overs scoring 82/4 between 7-16 and 36/4 between 17-20 but the bowlers, especially the tweakers made up for it. With Australia playing without a few of their key players, who were released during the course of the series for Ashes preparations, a depleted side lost some rhythm and it showed in the end.
Brief scores: India 167/8 in 20 ovs (Gill 46; Ellis 3/21, Zampa 3/45) bt Australia 119 in 18.2 ovs (Marsh 30; Patel 2/20, Dube 2/20, Washington 3/3).