Indian batsman Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 20-ball 46 helped India seal a six-wicket victory over visitors Australia in the second T20 match, which was reduced to eight overs a side on Friday.
Home captain Sharma won the toss and opted to field first in Nagpur, aided by key cameos from Dinesh Karthik, an unbeaten two-ball 10, and Virat Kohli (11) as India reached 92-4 with four balls to spare in reply to 90 Australia -5.
Australian spinner Adam Zampa took 3-16 in his impressive two-run spell as most of the other bowlers looked ineffective against the in-form Sharma.
Pacer Pat Cummins was the only other player to take a wicket for the visitors and finished with 1-23.
Matthew Wade’s unbeaten 20-ball 43 propelled Australia to a mammoth 90-5 after a wet pitch in the rain-hit city delayed the start and shortened play.
It was Wade’s second consecutive impressive performance in the series.
The Australian wicketkeeper smashed a 21-ball 45 in the first match on Tuesday to help the visitors chase down a mammoth 209-run victory target.
Visiting captain Aaron Finch scored 31 off 15 balls on Friday before an impressive spell from left-armer Axar Patel halted the Aussies’ scoring.
Patel finished with 2-13 and was the most impressive bowler for India.
Pace skipper Jasprit Bumrah, who returned to the team on Friday, took one wicket for 23 runs.
Sharma, who was also man of the match, said the Indian bowlers “used the conditions quite well”.
“You just have to play the situation and use the conditions to your advantage,” he said.
“It was nice to see Bumrah in the park. He is slowly and steadily returning to his rhythm,” he added.
Finch said “Rohit was brilliant” and praised Wade as a “calm customer at the back of the innings” who “did a wonderful job for us”.
The three-match series, a build-up to the T20 World Cup in Australia next month, concludes in Hyderabad on Sunday.
