India’s batting wasn’t quite ideal, but the bowlers stepped up on a tricky wicket at Carrara, Gold Coast, on Thursday. The result — India prevailed over Australia by 48 runs in the fourth and penultimate T20I to take an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the series.
Put into bat, India lost their way in the death overs to finish at 167/8, despite being steadily placed at 121/2 in the 15th over. However, all-rounders Axar Patel (2/20) and Shivam Dube (2/20 in two overs) chipped in with wickets to constantly peg the home team back, while Washington Sundar polished off the opposition’s lower order as Australia were bundled out for 119 with 10 balls remaining.
Left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh and in-form spinner Varun Chakravarthy too contributed. Arshdeep managed just one wicket in his three-over spell, but it was the key scalp of Josh Philippe soon after Dube had accounted for Tim David.
The share of dot balls that Arshdeep bowled during that phase also doubled the pressure on the experienced
Marcus Stoinis and Glenn Maxwell. Why Australia
held a match-winner like Maxwell back till No.7 was
quite baffling.
The Gold Coast pitch was two-paced in the first place, and it wasn’t easy for a new batsman to go all guns blazing right from the onset. India, too, had found that
out earlier.
For Maxwell, who returned to the XI just after recovering from a wrist injury, it wasn’t going to be easy with the required run rate at 10 runs an over. After surviving only three balls and managing two runs, he was undone by a googly from Varun that hit the top of his off-stump.
India simply cashed in on that bit of miscalculation from the Australians. Following Maxwell’s dismissal on the last ball of the 15th over, Washington picked up Stoinis soon after with a straighter one, practically confirming victory for India.
Precisely, India also benefited from the poor shot selection of some of the Australian batters, particularly skipper Mitch Marsh and David.
Earlier, vice-captain Shubman Gill (46) top-scored for India and also stitched a crucial 56-run opening stand with Abhishek Sharma (28) inside seven overs to lay some sort of a foundation for India. But with Dube and skipper Suryakumar Yadav not able to convert their starts, Australia were in with a chance to restrict India to just above 150.
But then, Axar (21 not out off 11 balls)’s timely blows — a six and a four — were crucial in terms of India finishing closer to 170. With his left-arm spin, Axar dismissed opener Matthew Short and Josh Inglis to apply the brakes on Australia’s scoring.
