Axar Patel turns things around

Raipur, December 1

Ignored for the upcoming assignment in South Africa, left-arm spinner Axar Patel responded with excellent figures of 3/16 as India got the better of Australia by 20 runs in the fourth T20I to seal their five-match series here today.

This was India’s fifth consecutive T20I series on trot.

Rinku Singh blazed away to a 29-ball 46 while Jitesh Sharma smashed 35 in 19 balls before Australia pulled things back to stop India at 174/9 after the visitors opted to bowl first.

Cruising at 167/4 in 18.3 overs, India lost five wickets for only seven runs in the last two overs, thanks to Ben Dwarshuis (3/40) and Jason Behrendorff (2/32).

In reply, Australia were restricted to 154/7 in 20 overs as India took an unassailable 3-1 lead with a match to go. Matthew Wade remained not out on 36 off 23 balls.

Axar and Ravi Bishnoi (1/17) were magnificent, bowling eight overs for only 33 runs with four scalps to their credit. There was no dew and hence the target of 175 became defendable, unlike in Guwahati. Both spinners hit immaculate lengths and mostly bowled stump to stump which became Australia’s undoing.

Set a target of 175, Australia were off to a flyer with Travis Head (31 off 16 balls) collecting a flurry of boundaries to lift his team to 42/1 in four overs, including 22 runs off seamer Deepak Chahar.

Seasoned spinner Axar, however, had the hero of Australia’s World Cup final caught after the batter got a leading edge while attempting a slog-sweep.

It was a huge breakthrough for India, coming 10 balls after leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi knocked over Josh Philippe’s stumps with the one that straightened.

Playing across the line, Aaron Hardie’s stumps were disturbed by Axar as he put India in a position of strength by leaving Australia at 55/3 at the end of the seventh over.

Skipper Suryakumar Yadav introduced Avesh Khan into the attack and the seamer started on a good note, conceding six runs in his first over.

Ben McDermott (19) and Tim David (19) steadied the Australian innings with a 35-run partnership before Axar picked up his third wicket to leave the visitors in a very difficult situation at 87/4 in the 12th over the run-rate pressure piled on. Axar hit McDermott’s stumps as the batter went for a big shot.

Brief scores: India: 174/9 (Rinku 46, Jaiswal 37, Jitesh 35; Dwarshuis 3/40, Sangha 2/30); Australia: 154/7 (Wade 36*; Axar 3/16).