Finance
After a superb half-century by Shreyas Iyer and late hitting by Axar Patel, India beat Australia by six runs in the fifth and final T20I match to win the series 4-1 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Sunday.
Arshdeep, who had given up 37 runs in three overs, bounced back wonderfully and gave up only three runs while grabbing the wicket of Australia skipper Matthew Wade as India completed a thrilling victory. Arshdeep was named to the team in place of Deepak Chahar, who had to leave Bengaluru due to a medical issue.
Australia were cruising at 128/5 in the 17th over, chasing a moderate target of 181. However, the Indians fought back well, conceding only 38 runs for three wickets in the final five overs to restrict Australia to 154/8 in 20 overs. The lowest total defended by a team in T20I cricket at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium is 160.
With the ball, India got off to a strong start, reducing the visitors to 55/3 in the seventh over, dismissing Josh Phillips (4), Travis Head (28) and Aaron Hardie (5) cheaply.
Ben McDermott, who batted alone and smashed five maximums in a 36-ball 54, contributed 47 runs for the fourth wicket with Tim David (17). But the Indian bowlers were not done yet and fought back bravely to trigger a collapse.
Matthew Short (16) and skipper Matthew Wade (22) put up some resistance, but they couldn’t hold off the superb Indian bowling.
Mukesh Kumar took 3-32 for India, while Ravi Bishnoi (2-29) and Arshdeep Singh (2-40) each had two wickets.
Axar Patel, the hero of India’s fourth-match victory, bowled wonderfully in the middle overs once more, twisting the batsmen in knots as the left-arm spinner finished with 1-14 in four overs.
Earlier, Shreyas Iyer hit a 37-ball 53 to help India score a modest 160/8 after Wade urged them to bat first.
Shreyas Iyer hit five boundaries and two maximums, Jitesh Sharma hit a 16-ball 24 and Axar Patel hit a 21-ball 31 with two fours and one six as India recovered from an early collapse to post a modest total.
India made a solid start of 33 when opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was sent back by Jason Behrendorff for 21 in the fourth over, having already sealed the series 3-1 in the fourth match at Raipur.
In the next over, fellow opener Ruturaj Gaikwad (10) was caught by Behrendorff off Ben Dwarshuis as India crashed to 33 for two after Australia skipper Matthew Wade won the toss and opted to bowl first in the insignificant match.
Suryakumar Yadav managed only five runs, while Rinku Singh, a hero for India with the bat in the fourth match, failed once, being caught by Tim David off Tanveer Sangha for six runs.
Shreyas and Jitesh put on 42 runs for the fifth wicket, as he and Axar Patel raised 46 runs for the sixth wicket partnership as India reached 143/6 in the 19th over.
Brief scores:
India 160/8 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 53, Axar Patel 31, Jitesh Sharma 24; Jason Behrendorff 2-38, Ben Dwarshuis 2-30) beat Australia 154/8 in 20 overs (Ben McDermott 54, Travis Head 28; Mukesh Kumar 3-32, Ravi iBishnoi 2-29, Arshdeep Singh 2-40) by six runs.
Source:IANS
