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MELBOURNE: Josh Hazlewood took three wickets, and captain Mitchell Marsh scored a quick 46, leading Australia to a commanding victory over India in the second T20I on Friday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
Set to chase a modest total of 146, Australia successfully reached the target in 13.2 overs to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Marsh and Travis Head set up the victory with a quick-fire opening stand of 51 runs from 28 balls.
However, Varun Chakravarthy provided the breakthrough with the wicket of Head, who struck 28 off 15 with the help of three fours and one six.
Marsh continued his onslaught and took his team’s total to 87 inside eight overs before Kuldeep Yadav ended his entertaining knock. The Australian captain departed after scoring a 26-ball 46, which featured four sixes and two boundaries.
Tim David joined Josh Inglis at the crease but could not contribute much, falling to Chakravarthy in the next over. Inglis soon returned to the pavilion after scoring a run-a-ball 20, dismissed by Yadav.
Mitchell Owen scored 14 runs, bringing Australia within striking distance of victory with only two runs remaining.
However, Jasprit Bumrah struck on back-to-back deliveries, removing Owen and the new batter, Matthew Short, who scored 0.
After the setback, Marcus Stoinis scored the winning runs, steering Australia to a five-wicket victory.
Earlier, India were booked for just 125 runs in 18.4 overs, despite a remarkable innings from Abhishek Sharma, who scored 68 runs off 37 balls.
The Indian team faced early setbacks, with Shubman Gill falling to Hazlewood for just 5 runs in the third over. This was followed by Sanju Samson’s dismissal for 2 runs by Ellis in the next over.
Hazlewood struck again, taking the wickets of Suryakumar Yadav for 1 and Tilak Varma for a duck, reducing India to 32 for 4 in just 4.5 overs.
A mix-up on the field led to Axar Patel being run out in the eighth over, leaving India in a precarious position.
Sharma, who was fighting a lone war, found a reliable partner in Harshit Rana (35), and they added 56 runs for the sixth wicket.
The partnership was broken when Bartlett dismissed Rana, and later took the wicket of Shivam Dube for just 4 runs. Marcus Stoinis then removed Kuldeep Yadav, who did not score.
Sharma’s valiant innings came to an end soon after, and Bumrah was run out without scoring, bringing India’s innings to a close.
Hazlewood finished with outstanding bowling figures of 3 wickets for 13 runs in 4 overs, while Bartlett and Ellis each took 2 wickets.
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