India defeated Australia by 20 runs in the fourth T20I of the five-match series at Raipur to seal the series 3-1 in their favour. The heroes of today’s win were Rinku Singh, Jitesh Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ruturaj Gaikwad, while with the ball, it was the spinner duo Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi. 

Highlights of the game

Having lost the toss, India was asked to bat first by Matthew Wade. Yashasvi Jaiswal started with his signature aggression, taking on the bowlers. He scored 37 runs in 28 balls and got out while playing the pull shot at square leg towards the end of the powerplay. India managed 50 runs at the loss of Jaiswal’s wicket in their powerplay. 

India lost another couple of wickets in quick succession as Shreyas Iyer and captain Suryakumar Yadav got out without scoring much. It was Rinku Singh who stabilized the ship with Ruturaj Gaikwad. Ruturaj held his end, while Rinku Singh managed to score runs and boundaries quickly. Once Ruturaj Gaikwad got out to Tanveer Sangha in the 14th over at a personal score of 32 runs in 28 balls, wicketkeeper-batsman Jitesh Sharma joined Rinku Singh in the middle. 

Both the batsmen entertained the crowd by striking the ball and scoring runs quickly. Together they put India in a strong zone before Jitesh was caught by Travis Head in the 19th over. It was then a flurry of wickets and India lost five wickets in the interval of 7 runs and 8 balls in the death overs.

At one point, it felt that India was 15-20 runs short, but on a pitch with no dew factor and some help from the bowlers, Indian bowlers capitalised the circumstances in their favour. For Australia, Travis Head provided a solid start, taking on the fast bowlers. He also scored 22 runs in an over of the powerplay off Deepak Chahar’s bowling. However, once Spin entered the attack, it was India that had the upper hand.

Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi bowled brilliantly, giving 16 runs and 17 runs respectively in their 4 overs. Axar took three wickets, while Ravi Bishnoi took one wicket. The spinners were assisted by Avesh Khan and Deepak Chahar. Deepak Chahar in his last two overs only conceded 15 runs and took two important wickets.

Inexperienced Australian side

For Australia, no batter could step up to take the responsibility of playing a match-winning innings, and the absence of Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith was evident in the game. However, efforts from Travis Head in the beginning of the chase and Wade’s finishing were insufficient for the visitors to seal the game.

The final game would be an obligation and will be played at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. This would be the conclusion of the long Australian tour of India which extended from the ODI series right before the Cricket World Cup in late September to the first Sunday of December.