Finance
Washington Sundar bowled 3-3, while Axar Patel and Shivam Dube each claimed two wickets as India produced a commanding bowling effort to defeat Australia by 48 runs in the fourth T20I at Carrara Oval on Thursday, taking a 2-1 lead in the five-match series.
Despite India’s par total of 167/8 on a two-paced pitch with variable bounce, their bowlers changed the match decisively in their favor. Each of the six bowlers took at least one wicket, with Sundar, Axar, and Dube standing out.
Australia, who were well positioned to chase down 168, lost their last nine wickets for 52 runs and were unable to break the stranglehold set by India’s spin trio. From 67/1, Australia was eventually bowled out for 119 in 18.2 overs, putting them in a must-win situation for the last game in Brisbane on Saturday.
Matthew Short and Mitchell Marsh struck six boundaries between them to start Australia’s chase. Axar made the breakthrough for India by trapping Short lbw after missing the ball on a sweep and returning to castle Josh Inglish. Marsh looked promising, but his innings was cut short when Dube bowled a slower ball that he holed out to backward square leg.
From then, Australia’s middle order failed under strain. Tim David missed a pull shot from Dube to additional cover. Josh Philippe followed shortly after, caught at short midwicket by Arshdeep Singh. Glenn Maxwell was undone by Varun Chakaravarthy’s googly, which clipped the top of off stump.
Sundar then struck twice in quick succession, trapping Marcus Stoinis lbw and grabbing a return catch off Xavier Bartlett’s poor chip to record his 50th T20I wicket. Jasprit Bumrah returned to collect his 99th T20I wicket by dismissing Ben Dwarshuis, while Sundar finished the game by having Adam Zampa hole out to long-on.
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
