Australia v India: Hardik Pandya seals series win for tourists
- Published
Hardik Pandya has scored 268 runs in the five white-ball games during India's tour of Australia
Second Twenty20 international, Sydney Cricket Ground |
Australia 194-5 (20 overs): Wade 58 (32), Smith 46 (38), Natarajan 2-20 |
India 195-4 (19.4 overs): Dhawan 52 (36), Pandya 42* (22) |
India won by six wickets; India lead 2-0 in three-match series |
All-rounder Hardik Pandya made an unbeaten 22-ball 42 as India beat Australia by six wickets to win the Twenty20 series with a game to spare.
India needed 14 off the final over, and Pandya hit debutant Daniel Sams for two sixes to win with two balls to spare.
Earlier Australia posted 194-5, with stand-in captain Matthew Wade scoring 58 and Steve Smith 46.
Virat Kohli made 40 and opener Shikhar Dhawan 52 in the chase to extend India's winning T20 run to 10 matches.
On a fantastic pitch, the hosts started well with Wade - captaining Australia for the first time in place of the injured Aaron Finch, hitting 10 fours and one six in his 32-ball innings.
However, wickets kept pegging them back, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal joining Jasprit Bumrah as India's top T20 wicket-taker with 59 victims when he removed Smith.
India - beaten 2-1 in the one-day series - were on course for victory before a mid-innings blip, but Pandya and Shreyas Iyer shared an unbroken 46, including 37 off the final 16 balls, to guide them home.
The final game of the three-match series takes place in Sydney on Tuesday (08:10 GMT), before a four-Test series starts on 17 December in Adelaide.
Listen to ABC Grandstand commentary of the final match on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra and the BBC Sport website.
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