India won the fourth T20I in Raipur to claim an unassailable lead of 3-1 in the series. With a game to go in Bengaluru, India has sealed the series against Australia for good. On a tricky wicket to bat on, India overcame Australia, thanks to a good performance from both the batting and bowling units. India read the pitch better and executed their plans very well.ย
Australia won the toss and elected to bowl first. Aaron Hardie started well by bowling a maiden over. Yashasvi Jaiswal added some impetus to the Indian inninsg at the top, but could not last longer. Ruturaj Gaikwad struggled to get going in the middle. Suryakumar Yadav and Shreyas Iyer could not stay longer in the middle. India seemed to be under trouble at one point in their innings.
The partnership between Jitesh Sharma and Rinku Singh helped India to post a good total on the board. On a slow wicket in Raipur, India ended up with a good score of 174 runs on the board. Rinku played yet another good innings with the bat, as he scored 46 runs in 29 balls. Jitesh scored 35 runs in 19 balls. For Australia, Ben Dwarshius picked 3 wickets. Jason Behrendorff and Tanveer Sangha claimed 2 wickets each.
Spinners help India to defend the target
Defending the target, the Indian pacers were taken aback by the attack of Travis Head. Suryakumar soon realized the need to get spinners early on. It proved to be a masterstroke, as Axar got the big wicket of Head. Both the spinners, Axar Patel and Ravi Bishnoi, bowled extremely well. The spin duo controlled the middle overs well by claiming wickets and bowling economical spells.
Bishnoi conceded just 17 runs and picked the wicket of Josh Philippe. Axar was the star of the day, who picked 3 wickets with the ball and conceded only 16 runs in his 4 overs. Deepak Chahar came back well in his second spell and got the wickets of Tim David and Matthew Short. Towards the end, Matthew Wade tried his best to win the match, but in vain.ย
Here's how the fans reacted to the news -
Kaash most number of time wc bhi jeet te๐ฅฒ
โ Bolo Yaarrrr (@ShaRo45264) December 1, 2023
Congratulations ๐ but they should need to learn to win the knockout matches too.
โ Tanveer Hassan (@tanveercric56_) December 1, 2023
And we lost world cup ๐
โ ANANT ๐ฎ๐ณ (@Akk_vk18) December 1, 2023
India seal the series 3-1 with a game to go...
โ VIRU (@Y05655671) December 1, 2023
Waooo Surya bhauu ki pahli series..
Hope we do well in T20I World Cup.
โ Cricket Polls (@CricPollsdaily) December 1, 2023
India Domination in Dhana Dhan Cricket
โ Don Cricket ๐ (@doncricket_) December 1, 2023
Good bowling by AXAR ๐ pic.twitter.com/HBvkPnVnNn
โ shreyas iyer (parody) (@shreyas_iyerkkr) December 1, 2023
Brilliant bowling by axar, already taken 3 wicket..
โ ะผฯ ััฮฑฯฮฑั ะฒฯ ัั (@IsHQ_QaTil) December 1, 2023
But can't win world cup trophy at home .๐ญ๐ญ๐ญ
โ Indian sport action (@sportszone_17) December 1, 2023
Congratulations India....!!! ๐ฎ๐ณ
โ The Khel India (@TheKhelIndia) December 1, 2023
Main purpose of the bilateral series should be to give chances to more and more youngsters !! pic.twitter.com/8LRKSg9Ehn