The Indian bowlers came up with a superlative effort to defend their 174-run total in the fourth T20I in Raipur on Friday.
The 20-run victory helped Suryakumar Yadav’s men seal the series 3-1 with a match remaining.
The batting struggled on a tricky wicket but spinners Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel dried up the runs for Australia which helped India claw back into the match. While Bishnoi gave away only 17 runs in his four overs, Axar’s quota of overs yielded 16 runs.
Left-arm spinner Axar dismissed Travis Head in the fifth over after the opener had blasted 31 off 16 balls. He also sent back Ben McDermott and Aaron Hardie.
Australia needed 67 from the last five overs but Deepak Chahar and Mukesh Kumar bowled excellently in the death overs to stifle the chase.
Earlier, Rinku Singh blazed away to a 29-ball 46 while Jitesh Sharma smashed 35
off 19 balls after being put into bat.
India were cruising at 167 for four in the 19th over but lost five wickets for only seven runs to upset the momentum. Ben Dwarshuis (3/40) and Jason Behrendorff (2/32) took the wickets.
Hardie began with a maiden over before Yashasvi Jaiswal (37 off 28 balls) got off the mark with a lovely cover drive Jason Behrendorff.
Jaiswal then launched into Dwarshuis in the third over, hitting the left-arm seamer for three boundaries to set the tone for the hosts.
Ruturaj Gaikwad (32 off 28 balls) too got into the action with Jaiswal continuing with his aggressive ways.
Hardie was brought back into the attack to stem the flow of runs as India reached 50 by the sixth over. He provided Australia with a breakthrough at the end of the Powerplay by dismissing Jaiswal.
Going for a flamboyant shot, Jaiswal failed to connect properly and McDermott completed a good catch running from mid-on.
Two quick wickets thereafter put the brakes on the run-rate as Australia threatened to make inroads.
Vice-captain Shreyas Iyer was dismissed for 8 when he could not get enough power or elevation into his lofted shot.
Surya (1) nicked Dwarshuis to the keeper, leaving India at 63 for three in the beginning of the ninth over.
Rinku and Ruturaj added 48 runs for the fourth wicket before the latter was dismissed by Sangha. But that did not deter Rinku from playing his natural game and he found an able ally in Jitesh, the two adding 50 runs in just 29 balls.
