MELBOURNE: Australia produced a dominant all-round performance to defeat India by four wickets in the second T20I at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday, taking a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.
Chasing a modest 126-run target, the hosts cruised to victory inside 14 overs, driven by a blistering start from captain Mitchell Marsh and opener Travis Head. The pair added 50 runs in quick time before Head (28 off 15) fell to Varun Chakravarthy.
Marsh continued the onslaught, smashing 46 off just 26 balls with two fours and four sixes before being dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav. Despite a brief stutter with a few middle-order wickets, Josh Inglis (20) and Mitchell Owen (14) kept the scoreboard ticking, while Marcus Stoinis (6)* guided Australia home comfortably at 126-6 in 13.5 overs.
Earlier, India’s batting collapsed to 125 all out in 18.4 overs, undone by the pace trio of Josh Hazlewood, Xavier Bartlett, and Nathan Ellis.
Hazlewood was the pick of the bowlers with an exceptional spell of 3 for 13 in four overs, while Bartlett and Ellis grabbed two wickets each.
India’s top order crumbled early, slipping to 32-4 inside five overs after dismissals of Shubman Gill (5), Sanju Samson (2), Suryakumar Yadav (1), and Tilak Varma (0).
The visitors’ only bright spot came from young opener Abhishek Sharma, who fought back with a superb 68 off 37 balls, including eight fours and two sixes. He shared a 56-run stand with Harshit Rana (35 off 33) to provide some resistance before both fell in quick succession.
India’s innings folded soon after as Bartlett, Stoinis, and Ellis cleaned up the tail.
With the win, Australia take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. The third T20I will be played in Hobart on Sunday.
