Australia beat India in third T20I of the series by 12 runs, avoid whitewash

Australia defeated India by 12 runs on the third and last T20
International of the series on Tuesday, saving themselves from getting
whitewashed after setting up a formidable 187 run chase for the visitors in Sydney, PTI reported.

In the Aussie lineup, Matthew Wade scored career highest in T20 of 80
runs, while a Glenn Maxwell half-century picked Australia up to the 180-plus
score.

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Indian batting kept collapsing throughout the second innings, as KL
Rahul became the first to depart, having scored a duck. Kohli (85 off 61 balls)
tried to keep the match in India’s favour, but the Men in Blue could ultimately
only reach a score of 174/7 at the end of 20 overs.

While Hardik Pandya (20 runs off 13 balls) took no time to start swinging,
the passion for the visitors were short-lived as he mistimed a shot, leaving the
ground within a threshold of 20 runs.

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The Indian innings was initially propelled by Shikhar Dhawan (28 runs
off 21 balls), but it was clearly not enough, as India staggered to a halt on
the score of 174/7, 12 runs short of the winning mark.

India’s
bowling heroes were Washington Sundar (2/34 in 4 overs) and Thangarasu
Natarajan (1/33 in 4 overs). Natarajan, despite a few boundaries conceded in
the final over, was pretty impressive.