India vs Australia, 2nd T20I: India beat Australia by six wickets, level series in the 2nd T20I at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur. Skipper Rohit Sharma led the team with the bat, hitting 46 runs in just 20 balls and helping India chase a target of 91 runs. Both teams now head to Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad to play the final game and the series decider on September 25, Sunday.

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Earlier, the toss was postponed multiple times due to a wet outfield. Finally, the umpires decided to schedule the toss at 9:15 PM IST. Sharma won the toss and asked Australia to bat first. The Australians didn’t have the start they wanted as Axar Patel leaked just 13 runs in his full quota of two overs, one of them being in powerplay. Skipper Aaron Finch, who has been out of form for some time, scored boundaries at regular intervals even when wickets were falling down on the other end. After Jasprit Bumrah yorked him out in the fifth over, it was Matthew Wade who took command of steering the Australian innings. He powered the defending World T20 champions to 91 runs. 

Indians showed intent from the very first over, hitting world No.1 T20I bowler Josh Hazlewood for 20 runs. Rohit Sharma hit two consecutive sixes and KL Rahul also scored one, as they both took the bowler to the cleaners. Rohit Sharma was scoring boundaries effortlessly, even though Adam Zampa kept on taking wickets at the other hand. 

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The Hitman quickly reached 41 runs off just 18 balls, with 22 runs required off two overs. Sharma was able to reduce the equation to 9 runs needed in the final over despite Hardik Pandya losing his wicket. Dinesh Kartik helped India win by hitting a six and a four in the first two balls of the over.

Man of the match Rohit Sharma said in the post-game interview,” I was quite surprised as well. I didn’t expect it to go quite as well as that. For the last 8-9 months I have been playing like that so it didn’t change much. But when you are playing a game like that you can’t plan too much. You just have to play the situation and use conditions to your advantage.”

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He also credited his bowlers for the win, praising Bumrah and Patel, “I felt when we were bowling the bowlers had something to bowl to. We used the conditions pretty well. But then at the back end dew started coming in. That is where we want guys to learn how tough it is. It was good to see Bumrah on the park. Slowly and steadily he is coming back into his rhythm. As a team we are not going to analyse it too much. Axar has fitted in the role well. He can bowl in any phase of the game. He brings a lot to the game.”