India defeated Australia in a final over thriller. The game was a roller-coaster ride, and Australia dominated throughout the game. They had the upper hand until Arshdeep took the wicket of Ben McDermott in the 15th over and later in the 17th over when Mukesh Kumar took back-to-back wickets, putting pressure on the Australian batsmen.
Struggle with the bat
After winning the toss, Australia invited India to bat first. India didn’t get a very comfortable start and lost three wickets in the powerplay. Soon after the powerplay, Rinku Singh departed early too. However, Shreyas Iyer and Jitesh Sharma scored some quick runs and accelerated the scoreboard. Later, Axar Patel and Shreyas Iyer entered into a partnership, scoring crucial runs towards the end.
Australian bowlers shared the wickets and bowled economically to stop India at a below-par total of 160. However, the wicket was not the regular Chinnaswamy turf, and it was helpful for the bowlers.
Bowling
With the bat, Travis Head provided an aggressive start to Australia and went after the Indian seamers. Despite Mukesh Kumar getting rid of Josh Philippe early, Head continued to attack. However, once Ravi Bishnoi was introduced into the attack, he took a couple of wickets in his first two overs. Axar Patel bowled clinical overs.
A partnership between Ben McDermott and Tim David for the fourth wicket bloomed in the middle, but once Axar took the wicket of David, and Arshdeep got rid of McDermott in the 15th over, Australia were on the backfoot. Later, Mukesh Kumar took two wickets in two balls, leaving Australia entirely relying on captain Wade. Captain Wade took the game to the last over, but could not finish the job for his team. He failed to score 10 runs off Arshdeep and got out on the third ball of the over without scoring a run from the first two balls.
Indian Spinner-duo’s triumph
India had sealed the series in the previous game, and it was just an obligation. Axar Patel won his second Man of the Match award in the series, while Ravi Bishnoi was provided the Man of the Series award.
Upcoming games
Australia, who have been in India for more than two months, will look forward to going back for the long home cricket season, and host another subcontinent team that is gearing up for the test series. Pakistan will face off against Australia in the three-test match series, starting from 14th December.
The team will now look forward to the exciting all-format tour of South Africa which will have 3 T20Is, 3 ODIs and 2 Tests. The 1st T20I will be played on December 10.