India’s T20I captain and star batter Suryakumar Yadav is known for his composed demeanour on the field, but the side’s fourth T20I vs Australia saw the player lose his cool at one point. It was a tight affair at the Carrara Oval, Queensland, but India ended up winning the must-win game by a margin of 48 runs. The incident took place on the final ball of the 12th over of the Australia innings. The hosts were going well in the chase of 168 when Shivam Dube dismissed Tim David and provided India a slight edge. He bowled two dot balls to new batter Marcus Stoinis in the same over.
But what happened on the final ball saw Suryakumar blast Dube. The medium-pacer gifted a short ball way outside off-stump to Stoinis, and the batter smashed it for a boundary over backward point.
As the four took pressure off Stoinis and gave Australia an easy four, Suryakumar lashed out at Dube for the loose delivery.
Talking about the game, Washington Sundar took three wickets in five deliveries as India beat Australia by 48 runs.
India spinners claimed six wickets in all to usher an Australia collapse from 91 for 4 in 11.3 overs to 119 all out in 18.2 overs in the chase.
Australia lost its last seven wickets for 28 runs across 41 deliveries and were bowled out for their second-lowest T20 total on home soil after 111 versus New Zealand in Sydney in 2022.
India have an unbeatable 2-1 lead in the series, which ends on Saturday in Brisbane.
Sundar took 3-3 from 1.2 overs, left-arm spinner Axar Patel grabbed 2-20 in four overs, and Varun Chakravarthy picked 1-26.
Axar’s wickets and cameo of 21 not out off 11 balls, which helped to push India past 150, earned him the Player of the Match award.
“I got a chance to bat at No. 7 and it helped me understand the wicket,” he said. “The ball was not coming on and there was unexpected bounce. I tried bowling wicket to wicket. If I have an impact for my team it’s the best game for me.”
Shubman Gill scored 46 off 39 balls as India put up 167-8 after being sent in.
Wrist spinner Adam Zampa took 3-45 in four overs.
(With AP Inputs)