Washington, Arshdeep stars in India’s series levelling win vs Oz

Hobart: WashingtonSundar enhanced his reputation as a T20 hitter with India batting in top gear through the innings to comfortably chase down a target of 187 for a series levelling five-wicket win over Australia here on Sunday. This is the first time that Australia have lost a T20 International at the Ninja Oval, earlier known as Bellerive Oval.

Tim David (74 off 38) bludgeoned the Indian bowling attack to take Australia to 186 for six after the visitors opted to bat. With the firepower India possess, they were expected to overhaul the target but Nathan Ellis (3/36) made their job tougher with his sharp and testing spells. India eventually got home in 18.3 overs.

Abhishek Sharma (25 off 16) once again produced a flurry of boundaries in the powerplay before skipper Suryakumar Yadav (24 off 11), Tilak Varma (29 off 26), Axar Patel (17 off 12) and Washington (49 not out off 23) did their bit.

The fourth T20 of the five match series will be played in Gold Coast on November 6.

Opting to bowl in nippy conditions, India started well courtesy Arshdeep Singh who struck twice in a two-over spell on his return to the side. His performance earned him the Player of The Match award.

Playing his first game of the series, India’s leading wicket taker in the format removed the dangerous Travis Head and Josh Inglis to leave Australia at 14 for two.

Arshdeep and Bumrah closed the innings well for the visitors. (PTI)

Brief Scores:

Australia 186/6 in 20 overs (Tim David 74, Marcus Stoinis 64; Arshdeep Singh 3-35, Varun Chakaravarthy 2-33) lost to India 188/5 in 18.3 overs (Washington Sundar 49 not out, Tilak Varma 29; Nathan Ellis 3-36, Marcus Stoinis 1-22) by five wickets.