IND vs AUS, 5th T20I: Mukesh Kumar, Shreyas Iyer guide India to commanding 4-1 series victory vs Australia

Arshdeep Singh held his nerve in the last over of the 5th T20I to help India clinch a thriller at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, 3 December.

India clinched the series 4-1 with a 6-run win against Australia in the final T20I of the 5-match bilateral series.

It was a sensational final over from Arshdeep Singh, who had been hit for 37 runs in the first 3 overs of the match. The left-arm pacer kept his cool, gave away just 3 runs from his 6 balls while defending 10 against Australia, who looked like sure-shot favourites to win the game.

Defending just 161 runs in Bengaluru, India were put in a tough position, once again by a ballistic Travis Head (28 off 18), who once again gathered some quick runs in the powerplay. India took two wickets in the powerplay, but conceded at almost 10RPO. There was still hope for India with spinners yet to operate, but early in the game, it felt like India were slightly short of the par score.

Trust in Bishnoi
When things got out of hand, captain Suryakumar Yadav once again handed the ball to Ravi Bishnoi in the fifth over, and once again Bishnoi delivered, this time with the wicket of Travis Head. On a sticky wicket in Bengaluru, Bishnoi and Axar Patel bowled well, picking 3 wickets between them to pull things in hosts’ favour.

Ben McDermott Shines
Australia didIt did not look like Australia could chase the target down on a sticky wicket in Bengaluru with their history of playing spin in this series. But Ben McDermott played a brilliant fifty – his second in T20I cricket, to bring Australia close to the target. McDermott chose his attacking shots well – a grand total of 5 in the entire match, and managed to eke out 5 sixes against the Indian bowlers. He hit 2 sixes off Arshdeep Singh, one each off Ravi Bishnoi, Avesh Khan, and Mukesh Kumar.

McDermott calculated innings of 54 off 36 balls kept Australia in the game, till they lost way in the 17th over of the match. Two wickets off back to back balls from Mukesh Kumar pegged Australia back, and a heroic innings from Matthew Wade (22 off 15) was not able to save Australia in the final game.

This was only the third time that a T20I target was defended in Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The previous two occasions also belong to India, who successfully defended a first innings total back in 2016 and 2017 against Bangladesh and England respectively.

Shreyas Iyer Shines in Bengaluru

Earlier, India had started off aggressively in Bengaluru. Yashasvi Jaiswal was off the block quickly once again hitting a boundary and two sixes. Jaiswal, like it has happened several times in this series was not able to convert his start and was the first one to fall off top-edging a short ball to Jason Behrendorff.

This once again resulted in a mini-collapse for India, which is turning into a little bit of a habit. In the 4th T20I, India had lost the wickets of Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav in quick succession. It was similar once again as Ruturaj Gaikwad and Suryakumar walked back inside a space of 14 balls in the final T20I fixture in Bengaluru.

Rare Rinku Failure
India have found their new saviour in Rinku Singh. Te batter has been sensational throughout the bilateral series. The left-hander proved that he was a human afterall, getting out while trying to slog Tanveer Sangha out of the park in the 10th over of the first innings.

After Rinku’s dismissal, India found two quick cameos in Jitesh Sharma (24 off 16) and Axar Patel (31 off 21), but they were not big enough to change the momentum of the game. India batter, Shreyas Iyer played a gritty knock, took the game deep and helped India put something respectable to defend. In a typical MS Dhoni manner, Iyer did what he could for the majority of the innings and then in the final over, slammed a four and a six in the first two balls against Nathan Ellis.

Iyer, however, was dismissed in the third ball of the final over, by a searing yorker. Perhaps, that is the next growth curve for Iyer, as the guard changes for the Indian team. The batter finished his innings just after hitting his 8th T20I half-century, scoring 53 off 37 balls.

This allowed India to reach 160/8 on a difficult pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, something that looked like a defendable score due to the presence of Ravi Bishnoi and Axar Patel. While both spinners did well, Mukesh Kumar turned out to be the star for India in the death overs, picking up 2 wickets in the 17th over of the match. With the win, India completed a series victory by 4-1 margin, under the captaincy of Suryakumar Yadav.