On Sunday, November 2, India defeated Australia in the third T20I by five wickets with nine balls to spare at the Bellerive Oval in Hobart, to level the five-match series at 1-1. After Australia posted
a competitive 186-run total on one of the shortest grounds in the country with fifties from Tim David and Marcus Stoinis, the Indian batters performed as a collective unit to overhaul the target in a convincing manner, to register their first victory in the series.
Earlier, after winning the toss, Indian captain Suryakumar Yadav decided to field first and returning Arshdeep Singh provided a perfect start to the visitors by picking up the key wicket of Travis Head for six runs in the first over. He backed it up by getting the better of destructive wicket-keeper bat Josh Inglis for one, to reduce Australia to 14/2 in the third over before Tim David, promoted to No. 4 took charge of the innings alongside his captain Mitchell Marsh.
David took the Indian bowling attack to the cleaners to reach his fifty in just 23 balls with seven fours and three sixes while Marsh could only find one four in his innings during this phase before Varun Chakravarthy got the better of him. On the very next ball in the ninth over, the Indian spinner cleaned up Mitch Owen with a stunning googly for a golden duck, to put Australia in some strife at 73/4.
But then, veteran Marcus Stoinis came to the middle and shared a key 45-run stand for the fifth wicket in quick-time to bring his team back into the contest. Shivam Dube accounted for David against the run of play for 74 off 38 with eight fours and five sixes before Stoinis took over from him along with Matthew Short (26* off 15) at the other end, sharing a 64-run stand for the sixth wicket.
In the last over, Arshdeep Singh accounted for Stoinis but not before he scored 64 off 39 with eight fours and two sixes, to take Australia up to 186/6 in their allotted 20 overs. The run chase for India began well with Abhishek Sharma getting off to a flyer once again in his growing T20I career, scoring 25 off 16 with two fours and two sixes before Nathan Ellis’ short ball.
Just two overs later, Ellis trapped Shubman Gill lbw for 15 off 12 while Suryakumar Yadav was on the charge at the other end but his innings was cut short by Stoinis on 24 off 11 with a four and two sixes. Ellis picked up his third of the evening, dismissing Axar Patel for 17 off 12 but despite the wickets falling regularly, India kept up with the required run rate, finding themselves at 111/4 in 11.1 overs.
Xavier Bartlett ended the struggle of Tilak Varma at the crease for 29 off 26, getting him caught behind with Josh Inglis taking the catch when India needed just 42 runs in 34 balls. Washington Sundar, who had taken the attack to the Australian bowlers when Varma found it tough, batted till the end to score 49 off 23 with three fours and four sixes to take India over the finish line alongside wicket-keeper Jitesh Sharma, who hit the winning runs in the 19th over.
