India clinch 2-1 series lead after 48-run win against Australia

India took a 2-1 lead in the five-match T20 series after defeating Australia by 48 runs in Gold Coast. Axar Patel, Shivam Dube and Washington Sundar shared seven wickets as India defended 168 comfortably despite a modest batting effort.

Carrara (Gold Coast): India defended a modest total with a tight bowling performance to beat Australia by 48 runs in the fourth T20 International and take an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match series here on Thursday.

The architects of India’s win were Axar Patel and Shivam Dube, who shared two wickets each to put Australia on the back foot in the run chase.

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Washington Sundar struck thrice towards the end as India comfortably defended 168, with Australia folding up for 119 in 18.2 overs after being 91 for 3 at one stage.

The final T20 will be played in Brisbane on November 8. The opening match of the series was washed out in Canberra.

Openers Matthew Short (30 off 24) and Mitchell Marsh (25 off 19) gave Australia a solid start in the chase, but a flurry of wickets in the middle overs pushed the hosts to a point of no return.

After Axar trapped Short in the powerplay, Dube removed Marsh and Tim David (14 off 9) in successive overs to make a telling impact. The wicket of Marsh came off his second ball before he surprised David with a short one in the following over.

Arshdeep Singh also picked a wicket in the middle overs, and the game seemed done and dusted when Glenn Maxwell saw his stumps disturbed off the last ball of Varun Chakaravarthy’s fourth over.

The strong bowling effort came after a middling batting performance. India never got the momentum they needed after a wicketless powerplay and ended with an underwhelming 167 for eight.

Abhishek Sharma (28 off 21) and Shubman Gill (46 off 39) put on 56 for the opening wicket before India lost their way.

Promoted to number three to counter Adam Zampa, Shivam Dube (22 off 18) could not make a big impact, while skipper Suryakumar Yadav (20 off 10) departed after hitting a couple of sixes.

Pacer Nathan Ellis (3 for 21 in 4 overs) was the pick of the Australian bowlers, using his variations effectively.

Zampa leaked 45 runs in his four overs but claimed three wickets, including the dangerous Abhishek. Abhishek stepped out to Zampa in the second ball of his opening spell and dispatched it down the ground for a maximum.

The southpaw tried to hit another one out of the park two balls later but was caught at long-on.

Abhishek could have been dismissed off the game’s second ball by left-arm pacer Ben Dwarshuis, but Xavier Bartlett dropped the early chance.

Abhishek’s friend and opening partner Gill, who is yet to make an impact in the series, had to work hard for his runs.

He eased some pressure with a massive hit off Marcus Stoinis in the cow corner region before falling to a back-of-the-hand slower one from Ellis.

The wickets kept falling thereafter, robbing the innings of any rhythm. Axar Patel (21 not out off 11) struck some much-needed boundaries towards the end to push the total past 160.

India lost four wickets for 42 runs in the last five overs, but a stellar bowling performance carried them over the line.