India spin way to dominant T20 win over Australia on Gold Coast

Washington Sundar picked remarkable figures of 3-3 while Axar Patel and Shivam Dube took two wickets each as India produced a commanding bowling performance to defeat Australia by 48 runs in the fourth T20I at Carrara Oval on Thursday and take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match series.

Despite India posting a par score of 167/8 on a two-paced pitch with variable bounce, their bowlers turned the contest decisively in their favour. Each of the six bowlers used picked up at least one wicket, with Sundar, Axar and Dube proving to be standout persons.

Australia, who were well placed to chase down 168, lost their last nine wickets for just 52 runs and couldn’t recover from the stranglehold imposed by India’s spin trio. From 67/1, Australia were eventually bowled out for 119 in 18.2 overs and are now in a must-win scenario for the final game in Brisbane on Saturday.

Australia began their chase with Matthew Short and Mitchell Marsh hitting six boundaries between themselves. Axar provided the breakthrough for India by trapping Short lbw after missing the ball on a sweep and came back to castle Josh Inglish. Marsh looked promising, but his innings was cut short by a slower ball from Dube and holed out to backward square leg.

From there, Australia’s middle order faltered under pressure. Tim David miscued a pull shot off Dube to extra cover. Josh Philippe followed soon after, caught at short mid-wicket off Arshdeep Singh. Glenn Maxwell was undone by a googly from Varun Chakaravarthy that clipped the top of off stump.

Sundar then struck twice in quick succession – trapping Marcus Stoinis lbw and taking a return catch off a tame chip from Xavier Bartlett to claim his 50th T20I wicket. Jasprit Bumrah returned to claim his 99th T20I wicket by castling Ben Dwarshuis while Sundar ended the game by having Adam Zampa hole out to long-on.

Previously, after being put in to bat, India had a promising 49-run opening stand, with Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill showing intent and fluency. But India’s momentum stalled as the top four failed to convert their starts into substantial scores. The middle order struggled to build partnerships, as they went from 121/2 to 136/6, allowing Australia to claw back into the contest.

Pacer Ellis, operating with his trademark slower deliveries, struck at regular intervals to dent India’s progress and pick three wickets, while leg-spinner Zampa applied pressure through the middle overs with his variations to bag three scalps, as Australia gave away only 46 runs in the last six overs.

India began positively, with Abhishek surviving an early chance off Dwarshuis, before he and Gill hit eight boundaries between themselves. Zampa broke the opening stand by having Abhishek hole out to long-on. India made a surprise move by promoting Dube to number three, a decision that raised eyebrows.

After Dube hit a six and four, Ellis deceived him with a slower ball, which he chopped onto his stumps. Suryakumar Yadav injected momentum with a flurry of boundaries, including two sixes off Zampa. Gill looked composed but couldn’t break free from the slowdown post power-play against the older ball and was castled by a sharp back of the hand delivery from Ellis.

Bartlett then removed Suryakumar with a well-directed delivery that induced a top-edge and was caught by square leg, while Tilak Varma fell in a bid to reverse sweep off Zampa. Jitesh Sharma was trapped lbw by Zampa, who successfully overturned the on-field decision via DRS, while Ellis and Marcus Stoinis took out Sundar and Arshdeep to ensure India finished three runs short of 170, which was more than adequate to get the visitors’ a comprehensive win.

Indo-Asian News Service

Brief Scores: India 167/8 (Shubman Gill 46, Abhishek Sharma 28; Nathan Ellis 3-21, Adam Zampa 3-45) beat Australia 119 in 18.2 overs (Mitchell Marsh 30, Matthew Short 25; Washington Sundar 3-3, Axar Patel 2-20) by 48 runs