India vs Australia, 2nd T20I: Jason Behrendorff helps Australia level series 1-1 with 8-wicket win

IANS

New Delhi: Australia registered their first T20I victory against India on Indian soil on Tuesday when their left-arm pacer Jason Behrendorff set up his side's eight-wicket win in Guwahati to level the three-match series at 1-1. (IND vs AUS, 2nd T20I: As it happened...)

Behrendorff, playing only his second T20I for Australia, ripped India's top order apart with a spell of 4/21 that restricted Virat Kohli and Co to 118 all out. Later, Moises Henriques (62*) and Travis Head (48*) added 109 runs off 76 deliveries in their unbeaten partnership for the third wicket, which completed a facile win with 4.3 overs to spare. It was Australia's first T20I win against India, snapping a seven-match losing run spread across five years.

Australia suffered two early blows in the form of captain David Warner (2) and Aaron Finch (8), who were back in the hut at 13/2 in the third over of the run-chase. But the combination of Head and Henriques took the game away from India.

After faltering with the bat, the Indian bowlers put up an ordinary performance, offering too many loose balls to Head and Henriques. The dew also was a factor with the ball difficult to grip and not turning as much as it did in the first innings.

The end result was that India's wrist spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, leaked 75 runs in 7.3 overs. Yadav especially had an ordinary day as he bowled too many boundary balls to Head and Henriques, who hit a combined nine fours and five sixes. Four of those big hits came off Henriques's bat.

Earlier, with Warner opting to bowl first, Behrendorff wreaked havoc as he castled India's formidable top-order ending with dream figures of 4/21 in four overs.

The 27-year-old from Western Australia swung the ball both ways on a helping pitch with Rohit Sharma (8), Shikhar Dhawan (2) and Virat Kohli (0) among his high-profile scalps.

It was the first international game played at the venue and the packed crowd was in for a shock after Rohit, who hit two crisp fours in the opening over, was dismissed by Behrendorff who trapped the Indian opener plumb in front with an inswinger.

Kohli departed two balls later after getting a faint inside edge while attempting a flick and the looping ball was caught by the left-arm pacer himself.

Behrendorff then had Manish Pandey caught behind with one that swung away just enough before Dhawan fell to a spectacular running catch by Warner.

His spell of four overs was enough to break the backbone of Indian batting which was hardly tested in the ODI series.

With India in deep trouble at 27/4, Kedar Jadhav (27) and MS Dhoni (13) tried to get going in the middle with a 33-run stand.

However, Australia were able to tighten their noose in the middle overs through Adam Zampa (2/19). He had a charging Dhoni stumped with a perfect leg-spinner before finding Jadhav's stumps to leave India in more trouble at 67/6.

Hardik Pandya (25) tried to provide a flourish in the end, including a cracking six over midwicket, but couldn't last the distance to take India to a competitive total.

The series-decider will be played in Hyderabad on October 13.

(with PTI inputs)