Rinku Singh’s 46 and Axar Patel’s 3/16 helped India seal the five-match series with a clinical 29-run win over Australia in the fourth T20I at Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium, Raipur. The triumph on Friday ensured India took an unassailable 3-1 lead with a match left in the series.
India produced a collective effort on the field while defending the 175-run target as Australia were restricted to 154/7 as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
Axar spun his web around the Aussie batters on a tricky surface as he returned with the match-winning figures of 3/16. Apart from him, comeback man Deepak Chahar claimed a couple of wickets.
Australia skipper Matthew Wade fought hard for his team till the end but his valiant 36-run* knock was not enough for the visitors to level the series.
In-form Travis Head (31) gave Australia a brisk start but he failed to capitalise on that and was dismissed by Axar after that India kept on taking wickets at regular intervals.
Earlier, Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma, who was playing his first game of the series, played fine knocks to pull India to 174/9 in 20 overs.
Rinku batted brilliantly under pressure and hit boundaries at a regular intervals when things got a bit tricky for India in the middle overs.
His 46-run knock was laced with 4 fours and 2 sixes and the maximums were the highlight of the innings – first was a reverse sweep and second a 100-meter monstrous maximum.
Jitesh also impressed on his first outing in the series as he hit a 19-ball 35, in Raipur.
