India VS Australia T20I: Rohit and Axar are the stars: India evens series with a win in 2nd T20I

India won the match by six wickets, with four balls to spare. Rohit Sharma scored an unbeaten 46, which was crucial in guiding India home. The three-match series is still very much alive as team India travels to Hyderabad.

Not that it was a certainty that they would win. In fact, for the longest time, the prospect of a match even happening appeared to be far from a certainty. 

Heavy rains in the north of India had not spared Nagpur, and although the rain had dissipated by the time the match rolled around, the ground was too wet for action to begin on time. 

Multiple inspections failed to yield any start to the match, up until the last one at 8:45 pm IST. The ground was deemed suitably dry, and the game was then reduced to an eight-over affair.

In such matches, convention and form go out of the window. But, given the conditions at play, the toss became imperative again. 

Fortunately for India, Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to send the visitors out to bat first to get a feel for the unfamiliar conditions.

Not that Australia did too severely, mind. Aaron Finch scored a 15-ball 31 before a returning Jasprit Bumrah castled him with a yorker so good even the Aussie captain applauded the ball while walking off. 

Matthew Wade also came to the party again, particularly liking Harshal Patel in the final over. The Indian pacer had another outing to forget and faced a fight to remain a starter with the likes of Arshdeep Singh looming in the background.

The good news for India – aside from Bumrah’s return, was that Axar Patel starred with the ball once again. His figures of 2-13 were the best by an Indian bowler, and he got two critical wickets in the form of Glenn Maxwell (0) and Tim David (2). 

Still, Australia managed 90-5 in their eight overs – meaning India would need to chase at a run rate of more than 11. Despite that, they chose to stick with their conventional batting order.

Not that it mattered much. Rohit came out with some serious intent, and Rahul followed suit. They got India off to a flier before Adam Zampa removed the latter for just 10. 

Out came Virat Kohli, who looked in good touch but was dismissed by Zampa, making it the 8th time the leg-spinner has dismissed Kohli in international games.

It gets worse for India, as Zampa then removed Suryakumar Yadav for a golden duck at the very next ball. Australia then thought they were in with a chance when Pat Cummins dismissed Hardik Pandya cheaply. 

Yet Rohit hadn’t let India fall behind the scoring rate, and a boundary off Cummins on the final ball off the 7th over meant India needed only 9 to win in the last over.

That’s when Dinesh Karthik did what he does best – finish games. He smacked Daniel Sams for a six and a four off consecutive balls; that was all she wrote on the night.