India: 184-3 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 60, Virat Kohli 59 not out, Shikhar Dhawan 42) beat Australia: 157-8 in 20 overs (Aaron Finch 74, Shaun Marsh 23; Ravindra Jadeja 2/32, Jasprit Bumrah 2/37) by 27 runs
Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah picked up two wickets each as India beat hosts Australia by 27 runs to take an unbeatable 2-0 series lead Down Under.
After losing the toss and being put into bat first, once again Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan laid a solid foundation for India - putting together 97 for the first wicket.
Dhawan though fell on 42 to Glenn Maxwell, once again short of his first T20 half-century. Virat Kohli was the new man in and he added a few quick runs with Rohit Sharma before the dreaded mix-up. Once again in the series, Rohit Sharma found himself running to the wrong end and Australia had their second wicket. Out for a 47-ball-60
Dhoni hit two boundaries in his 9-ball-14 and India ultimately wrapped up their innings on 184.
Australia on the other hand had made six changes to their squad, giving debut games to Nathan Lyon, Andrew Tye and Scott Boland.
Skipper Aaron Finch once again donned the role of the tormentor-in-chief for the Indian bowlers and along with Shaun Marsh posted 94 for the first wicket.
It was R Ashwin who drew first blood for the visitors, sending back Marsh for a run-a-ball 23. From there on, no other Aussie batsman could stick around at the crease to even score past 20 as Lynn, Maxwell, Watson, Faulkner, Hasting, Tye all fell cheaply. Midway through that collapse skipper Finch also went for 74 and later could not come out for the presentation due to a hamstring injury he picked up during the innings.
For India, spinners Ravindra Jadeja (2-32), Ravichandran Ashwin (1-27) and Yuvraj Singh (1-7) stood out as they won the match by 27 runs.
MS Dhoni’s first series victory in over a year and a half.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)