India v Australia, 2nd T20I: 3 reasons why Australia beat India by seven wickets
A Glenn Maxwell-inspired performance guided Australia to a seven-wicket victory against India, which also helped them lift the T20 trophy on away soil. In a high-scoring thriller, the visitors chased down a stiff total of 191 set by India. They also ended Virat Kohli's unbeaten T20I streak at home with the famous series win.
Jason Behrendorff and Jhye Richardson started off on a fine note as they gave away just four runs in the first couple of overs. But soon, KL Rahul got his eye in and hit two sixes on the bounce, twice.
Just when it looked like the Midas touch would result into a historic T20 innings, Rahul upper-cut one straight down the throat of third-man, who made no mistake. Dhawan wasn't able to find his feet at all, and he too fell for 14 of a substandard 24 balls.
Rishabh Pant's fearless mentality didn't trouble Australia too much, who were at that point in cruise control of the game. But then stepped in MS Dhoni, who amassed a 100-run partnership with the skipper. With three sixes, he recorded a quick-fire 40 while Kohli took the finisher's duties to steer India to 191-4.
The Aussies began their innings positively but the experiment of pushing Big Bash superstar Marcus Stoinis up the order failed as the powerful batter saw his castle smashed by Siddharth Kaul. Meanwhile, Aaron Finch's horrendous form continued as the Victorian only managed eight.
It looked a herculean task for the Men In Yellow with the scoreline less than a run-a-ball at the end of four overs, along with a couple of wickets. D'Arcy Short and threaded together a formidable partnership of 73, before the former fell short of the half-century. Maxwell scored an unbeaten 113 to take Australia home.
On that note, let's take a look at three reasons why Australia upstaged India in the 2nd T20I.
#3 Outstanding fielding effort along with tight bowling at the start
We shall reiterate on this point once again - Australia bowled extremely well at the start of their innings. They started off brilliantly well, and although KL Rahul ran riot from the third over onward, let's learn the fact that his sixes weren't the worst of deliveries.
His first six went up high in the sky and into the stands off Jhye Richardson's bouncer, which was a lethal, well-directed short ball. He then climbed on to a full ball and deposited it over covers, but the ball was just ahead of the good length.
Pat Cummins' balls were not too bad either, but it was Rahul's shots that produced magic and roar among the crowd. Apart from one ball from Behrendorff which provided too much room to Rahul, there was arguably nothing that strayed off the line, as far as Australia was concerned.
And the fielding was simply world-class. From stopping the singles at point to restricting the twos to ones, the Aussies had a spring in each of their steps. Not to mention, Jhye Richardson surged forward, flew off the ground at the right time and took a fabulous catch to dismiss Pant.
Aaron Finch too held on a sky-high catch of MS Dhoni. In a game that was defined and concluded by the finest of margins, the fielding effort of the away side proved to be vital.
Speaking of vital - Adam Zampa's spell of 4-0-23-0 was a gift for Finch when all the others were taken to the cleaners at the death. In the slow-ish wicket, Zampa mixed it up well, held tight lines and pitched it up at the right pace.