'Brave' hearts: Suryakumar Yadav, Virat Kohli power India to T20 series win over Australia

Hyderabad, September 25

Suryakumar Yadav and Virat Kohli struck half-centuries as India beat Australia by six wickets in their third and final T20 International to claim a 2-1 series win.

India lost openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul cheaply in the powerplay, but Yadav and Kohli put on a century stand as they chased their target of 187, and Hardik Pandya hit the winning runs with a ball to spare.

We wanted to put up a show, and we did that well. The biggest positives were different individuals stepping up with the ball and bat. When you are sitting back and watching all of that happening, you feel nice as a management. Sometimes you can err in doing a lot of things. This is T20 cricket, and the margins of error are very small. I thought we took our chances, we were brave. Sometimes it didn’t come off. Rohit Sharma, India captain

Yadav hit five boundaries and as many sixes in a 36-ball 69 and was looking unstoppable until he fell to Josh Hazlewood, with Kohli then taking over as he hit 63 runs off 48.

Pandya (25) kept his cool while facing a relentless Australian attack after Kohli’s dismissal in the final over and wrapped up the win with a boundary off Daniel Sams.

Put in to bat, Australia had made a blazing start with opener Cameron Green smashing seven fours and three sixes in a 21-ball 52 after Axar Patel drew a mishit from skipper Aaron Finch (7) to provide India with a breakthrough.

The hosts found some more breathing space after Bhuvaneshwar Kumar removed Green and Glenn Maxwell (6) was run out by Axar, while Steve Smith (9) was stumped by Dinesh Karthik off Yuzvendra Chahal’s delivery.

Josh Inglis (24) and Matthew Wade (1) both fell to Axar in the 14th over to leave the visitors at 117/6 before Tim David provided a late flourish.

David scored 54 runs off 27 balls as he added 68 runs for the seventh wicket with Sams (28) and notched his first international half-century for Australia to help the visitors post a strong 186/7.

Australia won the series opener by four wickets, while India levelled the series with a six-wicket victory on Friday in a match reduced to eight overs per side. — Reuters

Brief scores: Australia: 186/7 (David 54, Green 52; Axar 3/33); India: 187/4 in 19.5 overs (Suryakumar 69, Kohli 63; Sams 2/33). 

When you do well, and the team wins you feel nice. The line and lengths I bowl, I back myself. Even if the batter hits a good shot, I back myself. I try and execute my plans. Axar Patel, player of the series

My thoughts have always been the same, have always wanted to express myself. That’s how I practise in the nets. Just loving it at No. 4. Suryakumar Yadav, player of the match

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