Twitter Reactions: Bowlers shine in Raipur as India seal the series with 20-run win over Australia

India took an unassailable 3-1 lead against Australia in the five-match T20I series as they beat Australia by 20 runs in the fourth T20I on Friday, December 01 at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur. After being put in to bat first, India posted a decent score of 174/9 in their allotted 20 overs. In reply, Australia were restricted to 154/7 in their 20 overs.

Australia’s chase got off to a decent start as openers Josh Phillipe (8 off 7) and Travis Head (31 off 16) added 40 runs for the first wicket off 19 balls. Seeing the game running away, captain Suryakumar Yadav brought Ravi Bishnoi into the attack and the wrist spinner vindicated his captain’s decision by destroying Phillipe’s stumps on the very first ball.

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At the other end, Axar Patel (3/16, 4 overs) got rid of Travis Head (31 off 16), Aaron Hardie (8 off 9) and Ben McDermott (19 off 22) to leave Australia on 87/4 after 11.2 overs. The Kangaroos tried their best to get a move on but Deepak Chahar got rid of the dangerous Tim David (19 off 20) and Matthew Short (22 off 19) in back-to-back overs to leave them reeling at 126/6 after 16.4 overs.

Captain Matthew Wade tried his best to take his team over the line with his innings of 36* (23). However, he failed to get any support from the other end and fell 21 runs short of their target.

Earlier in the day, after being put in to bat first, India got off to a decent start as openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (37 off 28) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (32 off 28) added 50 runs for the first wicket off 36 balls. However, India were put in a spot of bother as Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer (8 off 7) and Suryakumar Yadav (1 off 2) were dismissed in a space of 13 runs to leave India on 63/3 after 8.1 overs.

Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma rescued Indian innings

After the three quick blows, Gaikwad and Rinku Singh got involved in a 48-run stand off 31 balls. However, Australia once again made a comeback as Gaikwad got dismissed by Tanveer Sangha in the 14^th over. Following Gaikwad’s dismissal, Jitesh Sharma (35 off 19) joined Rinku (46 off 29) at the crease and the duo added 56 runs off 32 balls for the fifth wicket to help India cross the 160-run mark.

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However, India lost their way in the death overs as Australia picked five wickets giving away just seven runs. As a result, India finished their innings on 174/9 in their allotted 20 overs.  

Meanwhile, X was abuzz with another series win by India. Here are some of the posts: