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New Delhi: Josh Hazlewood starred with the ball while skipper Mitchell Marsh did the rest with the bat as Australia made short work of India in the second T20I at the MCG on Friday. By virtue of the 4-wicket victory, Australia have taken 1-0 lead in the 5-match series with three more encounters left after the first game in Canberra was washed out due to rain.
Chasing a paltry total of 126, Aussies took just 13.2 overs to cross the finish line with captain Marsh top-scoring for the hosts with 46 runs off just 26 balls. It was the skipper himself who gave a flamboyant start in the easy chase with four sixes and two boundaries remaining just 4 runs short of a half-century.
The lethal Travis Head was the next best scorer with 28 runs off 15 balls but could not take his innings forward. Josh Inglis did the rest with a 20-run score to complete the easy chase for the hosts with more than 6 overs to spare. For India, Varun Chakaravarthy proved to be disciplined also claiming two wickets while Kuldeep Yadav also claimed two wickets but proved to be too costly. Jasprit Bumrah also scalped couple of wickets towards the end.
Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the bowlers with three wickets giving away just 13 runs in his 4-over spell. Meanwhile Xavier Bartlett and Nathan Ellis proved a bit expensive but claimed two wickets apiece. Marcus Stoinis also contributed with a scalp as India were bundled out for a paltry total, with Abhishek Sharma being the lone silver lining with a brilliant half-century.
Abhishek scored 68 off just 37 balls which included 8 boundaries and 2 massive sixes but rest of the batters from the side failed to contribute. Harshit Rana was the only other batter to score a double digit mark of 35 runs while rest of the line-up departed to the pavilion after scoring single-digit figures. India lost their first wicket in form of Shubman Gill at just 20 runs while Sanju Samson also followed the path quickly as Indian were left at 23/2.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav, who was brilliant in the rain-marred first T20I, could only muster 1 run with Tilak Verma, Axar Patel and Shivam Dube also failing to put up any show. The third T20I would be played on Sunday.
