Mohali: Mathew Wade's unbeaten 45 off 21 balls combined with Cameroon Green's 61 helped Australia pull off a daunting run chase of 209 runs with 4 wickets in hands as KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya's half-centuries went in vain at IS Bindra Stadium here on Tuesday.
Wade, along with debutant Tim David (18), stitched a fantastic seventh wicket stand after smoking Harshal Patel for 22 runs in 18th over, turning the tide in Australia's favour. Both helped Australia plunder 53 from the 17th and 19 overs.
The destructive Green capitalised on India's mistakes in the powerplay. The hosts did not opt for a review over an LBW appeal against him and later Axar Patel dropped him. Steve Smith's (35 off 24) cameo also helped Australia keep the required run rate under control.
India had a bad day on the field as they dropped Green, Wade, and Smith. India's bowling too at the death was pretty ordinary as Wade flogged them all around the park and helped Australia go one up in the three match T20I series. Harshal Patel leaked 49 runs, while Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave away 52 runs.
India did turn the tables on Australia in middle overs led by Umesh Yadav (2/27) and Axar (3/17) by picking up wickets, but Wade denied India to run through their innings.
Australia captain Aaron Finch won the toss and chose to bowl first with David making his T20I debut. India dropped Rishabh Pant and rested Jasprit Bumrah who was not 100 percent fit to make his comeback.
Rahul and Hardik's pyro-technical fifties helped India post a challenging 208/6.
Pandya clobbered three sixes back-to-back on the final three balls to bring up his best-ever score in T20I cricket as India scored 60 runs in the last four overs.
Rahul lost Captain Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli inside the first six overs, leaving India at 35/2 after Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Ellis struck early. This did not affect his approach. He smashed his 18th half century in 32 balls and sewed up a 68-run stand with SKY (Surya Kumar Yadav) for the third wicket.
SKY scored 46 off 25 balls. Hardik came in and went bang-bang after SKY and Rahul laid the platform. He clubbed a 25-ball fifty and helped India go over the 200-run.
Rahul made 55 off 35 balls before Hardik smashed an unbeaten 71 off just 30 balls, including five sixes.
Brief Scores: India 208/6 (Hardik Pandya 71*, KL Rahul 55, Suryakumar Yadav 46; Nathan Ellis 3-30) lost to Australia 211/6 in 19.2 ov (Cameron Green 61, Matthew Wade 45*; Axar Patel 3-17) by four wickets. (UNI)
