India bounces back to take an unassailable lead
The Hindu
Axar Patel starred with a three-wicket haul and Rinku Singh blazed away with a 29-ball 46 as India defeated Australia by 20 runs in the fourth T20I at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur
Axar Patel starred with a three-wicket haul and Rinku Singh blazed away with a 29-ball 46 as India defeated Australia by 20 runs in the fourth T20I at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur on Friday.
The Suryakumar Yadav-led side bounced back in style after going down to the current World champion in Guwahati with a clinical performance to take an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
Put in, India rode on Rinku, and Jitesh Sharma’s late blitz, to post a challenging 174 for nine in 20 overs.
In reply, Australia was restricted to 154 for seven in 20 overs. While Axar picked up three wickets, Deepak Chahar took two with Ravi Bishnoi and Avesh Khan taking one each. Axar (4-0-16-3) and Bishnoi (4-0-17-1) spun a web around the Australian batsmen in favourable conditions. The spinners didn’t allow the Australians to run away with the game after Josh Philippe and Travis Head provided a fiery start to the innings sending Chahar on a leather hunt.
Chahar, who was drafted into the side for the final two T20s, came a cropper as he leaked 22 runs in his second over before Suryakumar introduced spin.
Bishnoi struck off his very first ball by cleaning up Phillippe, who attempted a wild sweep only to see the ball sneak under his bat and crash onto the stumps.
Axar, too, made an immediate impact as he removed the dangerous Head.
Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.