Team India secured a thrilling six-wicket victory in the rain-shortened second T20I of the series against Australia. In the eight-over match played in Nagpur, the Rohit Sharma-led side successfully chased down 91 runs with four overs to spare as the skipper himself played an important knock-off of 46 runs without defeat off just 20 deliveries. Meanwhile, Dinesh Karthik finished the game in style for India, smashing a six and a four in the first two deliveries of the final to guide the hosts to victory.
India needed 9 runs to win the final of the match; however, Karthik crushed Daniel Sams for a maximum in the very first delivery when the Australian bowler bowled a fuller ball on leg stump. Karthik sent the delivery towards fine leg to reduce the equation to 3 from 5 deliveries.
Sams made a change of pace but kept it short, giving the Indian batter enough time to get on top of the delivery and smash it towards deep mid-wicket for a four. Watch Karthik’s two boundaries in the final: Here’s how Rohit Sharma reacted after Karthik’s brilliant finish:
Earlier, the match was postponed due to incessant rain in Nagpur throughout the previous day. It finally started at 21:45 as an eight-over game and Axar Patel was again the star for India, picking two wickets while conceding just 13 runs – by comparison, Australia posted a run rate of 11.2. Jasprit Bumrah’s return was a big boost for India as he bowled two overs in the game and although he conceded 23, the opening fast bowler showed his class when he top-scored a yorker to dismiss skipper Aaron Finch for 31.
Meanwhile, in India’s run-chase, KL Rahul scored 10 and Virat Kohli 11, while Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed for a first-ball duck. Hardik Pandya was also dismissed early as he scored 9 off as many balls before Dinesh Karthik helped seal the game for India with two balls.
👏👏👏