India completes World Cup revenge mission with a 20-run victory to wrap up T20 series against depleted Australia
- Aussies beat India in the ODI World Cup
- Most players returned home to prepare for the home summer
- India claimed victory in the fourth match of the T20 series
India have exacted some late retribution for their World Cup heartbreak, with their spinners leading a string of 20-run victories over a much-changed Australia in the fourth Twenty20 in Raipur.
After being sent in, India lost five wickets for seven runs from their last nine balls and stumbled to 9-174 on Friday (Saturday AEDT) before bouncing back to restrict Australia to 7-154 and reach an unassailable 3-1 lead in the contest. series of five games.
Captain Matthew Wade (36no) made a hard swing late after World Cup finals hero Travis Head (31) made a typically fast start, but Australia were tied in between by tweakers Axar Patel (3-16) and Ravi Bishnoi (1-17).
With the venue dependent on generators to power the floodlights due to unpaid electricity bills, Australia made a high-voltage start, cruising to 0-40 from three overs, before the introduction of spin twins Patel and Bishnoi – the two leading wicket-drivers of the series. takers – completely changed the complexion of the chase.
Legspinner Bishnoi started the 3-12 burst when he cast Josh Philippe (8) before Patel removed dangerman Head – with a slog sweep to Mukesh Kumar – and Aaron Hardie (8).
Relieved Indian players celebrate after concluding the five-match T20 series against Australia following their World Cup loss
Captain Matthew Wade said the batting line-up during the defeat did not handle the spin bowling from India well enough
Patel then switched ends and bowled Ben McDermott (19) before Tim David (19) and Matt Short (22) holed out.
That left Wade, the support act for the Glenn Maxwell show in Guwahati two nights earlier, doing too much alone as the asking price went up.
“We just didn't play the spin up the middle very well,” Wade said.
“They caught us in the fourth and fifth overs and didn't really let us go.
'Some places need to be cleaned up, especially against turning.'
It was a very different looking Australian team that took the field for the penultimate match, with offspinner Chris Green making his debut, while Philippe, McDermott and Ben Dwarshuis also got a chance, with Maxwell and fellow World Cup winners Marcus Stoinis and Josh Inglis heading home returned.
In the Indian innings, Dwarshuis (3-40) and fellow left-arm seamer Jason Behrendorff (2-32) produced a clatter of late wickets to cap Australia's best bowling performance of the series.
Rinku Singh (46) top scored for a young India side who looked on their way to a total closer to 200 before their disastrous last nine balls.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (37) was the early aggressor before his demise set up a top-order 3-13.
Shreyas Iyer (8) followed before captain Suryakumar plucked Yadav (1) to hand Dwarshuis his maiden T20I wicket.
Ruturaj Gaikwad (32) was regularly starved by the attack before falling victim to wrist spinner Tanveer Sangha (2-30).
Rinku and Jitesh Sharma (35) added 56 quick runs for the fifth wicket and threatened to give India total control.
Jitesh's departure, taking Dwarshuis to Head on the boundary in the 19th over, set in motion the late collapse that saw five wickets fall in 11 deliveries as Behrendorff bowled a fine death for just six runs as three wickets fell.
The fifth and final match of the series is on Sunday (Monday AEDT) in Bengaluru.