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IND vs AUS | Rinku, Jitesh, Axar Shine As India Seal Series With 20-Run Win In Raipur

image-lpmxah98Axar Patel celebrating a wicket. (AP)

Brief Scores: India: 174-9 (20 overs) [Rinku Singh: 46 (29), Yashasvi Jaiswal: 37 (28); Ben Dwarshuis 3/40 (4), Tanveer Sangha 2/30 (4)] defeated Australia: 154-7 (20 overs) [Matthew Wade: 36* (23), Travis Head: 31 (16); Axar Patel 3/16 (4), Deepak Chahar 2/44 (4)] by 20 runs. 

Team India humbled Australia in Raipur in the fourth T20I to seal their five-match series with a game to spare.

Rinku, Jitesh charge up India’s total to 174

After being invited to bat first, in-form Indian batters Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal blazed their way with a 50-run opening partnership inside the first six overs. Moments after their powerplay assault, Jaiswal was one-upped by a cross-seam short delivery from Aaron Hardie as the elegant southpaw made his way back to the sheds for a well-crafted 28-ball 37.

Following the subsequent cheap dismissals of Shreyas Iyer and captain Suryakumar Yadav, Gaikwad anchored the innings with run-raider Rinku Singh, who scorched the Australian attack with 46 scintillating runs from just 29 balls.

Gaikwad’s dismissal at the hands of Tanveer Sangha allowed Rinku to go berserk with fellow batting barbarian Jitesh Sharma at the death. The wicketkeeper-batter, arriving at the crease in the backend of the innings, bludgeoned three sixes and a boundary during his death-over assault to turbo-charge the Indian total towards a competitive 174.

Australian pacemen Jason Behrendorff and Ben Dwarshuis reaped the most from India’s death-overs slogging as the two speedsters accounted for two wickets each in the final two overs of the innings. Leg-spinner Sangha, on the other hand, accounted for the key scalps of Gaikwad and Shreyas Iyer to finish with figures of 2-30 from his four overs.

Axar Patel, Bishnoi halt run-chase with key wickets

Chasing 175 to level the series, Australian openers Travis Head and Josh Philippe laid out a concrete powerplay foundation with their three-over 40-run partnership. However, their top-order aggression was undone by Indian spinners Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi in a space of few overs as Australia slumped to 52-3 a while later.

After being leathered away with the new ball, Deepak Chahar came back in the death overs to get dangermen Tim David and Matthew Short, having them both holed out at deep-midwicket by a composed Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Patel secured a three-fer from his four overs, claiming the key wickets of Aaron Hardie and Ben McDermott following his opening blitz. He and Bishnoi collectively claimed four wickets from their combined eight overs, all at the expense of just 33 runs. Their spin amalgamation kept Australia 20 runs down from India’s total, allowing the ‘Men in Blue’ to seal the series with a game to spare.

The two white-ball titans will now collide in Bengaluru for a dead-rubber on December 3.