Australia were all out at 119, chasing 168, with Sundar taking three wickets and Chakravarthy and Patel chipping in.
Published November 6, 2025
India’s spinners spearheaded the Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket series against Australia with the ball as the visiting nation crushed the home team by 48 runs on Queensland’s Gold Coast to take a 2-1 lead.
After losing the toss and being sent into bat on Thursday, India reached 167-8 thanks to Shubman Gill’s brilliant 46 and useful contributions from Abhishek Sharma (28) and Shivam Dube (22).
The world champion spin bowlers then took center stage as they overcame Australia for 119, with off-spinner Washington Sundar taking 3-3 in just eight balls.
“I thought 167 was par on that wicket,” Australian captain Mitchell Marsh said.
“But the batting was quite difficult. We had some partnerships but we couldn’t get anything big to give us momentum in the final innings of the innings.”
India would have gone into the innings break expecting a score bigger than 167, but the total proved too high for the Australians. The Australians started well but surprisingly dropped down the order after reaching 67-1 in nine overs.
After losing the opening game in Canberra, the visitors will travel to Brisbane on Sunday looking to make it five in a row.
“I think the bowlers did really well,” India captain Suryakumar Yadav said.
“There was a little bit of dew, but they adapted quickly.
“I think the combination (of our bowlers) suits us very well and bowling wide out is what we want them to do,” he said.
India looked set to achieve an impressive score when openers Abhishek and Gill came under Australian attack in the early overs.
The pair posted 56 in 6.4 overs with little trouble, but Abhishek, who had smashed leg-spinner Adam Zampa for a six off two balls earlier, attempted his second try, only to be caught by Tim David at the long-on boundary.
Dube joined Gill and scored freely against Zampa as well, but found it difficult to cope with the pace bowling and was bowled by Nathan Ellis, leaving India to finish with 88-2.
Ellis bowled with Gill and India took their second win at 121-3.
After four runs, Yadav was caught on his 20th base hit, and the remaining batters retired, so the chance for a big score disappeared.
Australia’s openers Marsh, 30, and Matthew Short, 25, got off to a bright start, but India’s bowlers steadily piled up the runs and took wickets at crucial moments to take control.
India won the third T20I by five wickets and Australia won the second T20I by four wickets, but the series opener was canceled due to rain.
