India won by 6 wkts
PLAYER OF THE MATCH : Suryakumar Yadav
Batter
Bowler
What a lovely closely fought series. Some boxes ticked for both teams in their prep for the World Cup. Australia head home to host West Indies and England before the big event. India now travel further down south to Thiruvananthapuram to start their 3-match series against South Africa. The Proteas put on a good show in June to share a 5-match series 2-2. This promises to thrill us too. We will be back with you on Wednesday evening to tell you that story. Goodnight!
Rohit walks up and collects the trophy. He is being joined by his teammates as they pose for the cameras as champions.
Rohit Sharma | India captain: It's a special place. We have had great memories playing for India and when I played for Deccan Chargers as well. Biggest positive was different individuals stepping up and delivering. You feel good about it as a management. Margin of error in T20s is small. We took our chances, we were brave as well. Sometime it doesn't come off. There are areas to improve as well. Not easy coming back after a break against a tough team. They (Bumrah and Harshal) will take some time. Hopefully they can get back into their groove in the next series.
Axar Patel | PoTS: When you do well and the team wins the series, it feels great. I try to back myself with the line and lengths I bowl and even if the batter takes me on I back myself.
Suryakumar Yadav | PoTM: In that situation I thought let me take my chance. I had two three shots in mind but I tried to hit over mid-off only. My mindset is pretty clear. Loving it at No. 4. There will be tough challenge but you got to express yourself and been a little smart as well.
Aaron Finch | Australia captain: Really good series. The way we fought back was fantastic. Really with a young player like Green have such an impact. We had to get wickets, can't beat India by containing. At times we were sloppy with bat and ball, but playing a tight series like this against a World Class side is going to keep the guys in good stead. I loved the way he took the game on with his ultra-aggressive approach.
Kohli (2/2): I kind of made up my mind to go after him (Adam Zampa) today. He's a quality bowler and he tries to control my scoring rate whenever we play and I knew that he was going to attack the stumps, so I was standing outside leg already. Last game I was a bit disappointed that after hitting him for a four, I went for a double rather than hitting him for a six. I'm making a conscious effort to strike those big ones through the middle overs so that it can help the team situation. The game shouldn't have gone on that long, we should have probably had 4 or 5 to chase in the final over. It was important to maintain my composure and get one boundary (on that first-ball six in the 20th over). I'm happy with my contribution to the team, I took a break, went back to the nets, worked hard on my fitness and think it's coming off well. I want to keep contributing and doing my best for the team.
Virat Kohli (1/2): That's why I'm batting at 3, I have to utilise my experience and give the team what the team wants. I got off to a good start then I had to take down Zampa because he's an important bowler through the middle. When Surya started hitting it like that, I kinda looked at the dug-out as well. Rohit and Rahul bhai both told me, 'you can just keep batting on' because Surya was striking it that well. It was just about building a partnership. I just used my experience a little bit. (On SKY) Absolute clarity in what he wants to do. He has the game to bat under any sort of situation and any condition. He has shown that already. He got a hundred in England, he batted beautifully in the Asia Cup. Here, he's striking the ball as well as I have seen him strike. For the past 6 months, he's been outstanding. It's the array of shots and to play those shots at the right time is such a tremendous skill. He's a guy who knows his game inside out. He's got the gift of timing and I was in awe watching him play his shots.
Highest successful T20I chases vs Aus
202 by India Rajkot 2013
198 by India Sydney 2016
195 by India Sydney 2020
187 by India Hyderabad 2022 *
184 by Pakistan Harare 2018
India in T20I run chases since 2021
Mat 14
Wins 13
Losses 1
Most T20I wins as captain for India
42 MS Dhoni
33 Rohit Sharma *
32 Virat Kohli
22:35 Local Time, 17:05 GMT, 22:35 IST: Massive smiles in the blue camp as they win the series 2-1. SKY! Gee, what a revelation he has been. And that intent in the partnership with Virat was what sealed the deal for India. Wickets fell, but both batters didn't budge. Their post-powerplay game was top notch as they ensured a boundary almost every over to keep the run rate in check. And with some of his outrageous shots, SKY brought the run rate down in a hurry. Cam Green was Australia's best bowler. Troubled the batters with pace, bounce, forced some mishits, but Australia didn't give him the fourth. Hazlewood broke SKY's stand with Virat and Australia came back a bit but with wickets in hand and hitters left, it was India's game, although they would have wanted to finish this better.
Daniel Sams to Hardik Pandya, FOUR, they were bowling wide yorkers to Hardik almost all series, but Hardik cleverly opened the bat face and sliced this fine with one hand to get it fine and send it to the left of short third man. India get a tight win, the kind of wins Rohit wants his team to get before the World Cup
Daniel Sams to Hardik Pandya, no run, way outside off stump, no called a wide. Brave call from umpire Nitin Menon. He reckons Hardik moved off-side. Precious dot
As Virat was on his way back to the dressing room, Rohit patted him on the back with a big smile. He knows Virat has got the team almost home.
Daniel Sams to Karthik, 1 run, slower delivery outside off stump, Karthik mistimes the drive to long-off
Dinesh Karthik, right handed bat, comes to the crease
Umpire Nitin Menon in a chat with Finch about something.
Daniel Sams to Kohli, out Caught by Finch!! Smasheddd oh straight to Finch at extra-cover. The momentum of that shot pushing Finch back after completion of the catch. Short and wide, smack me ball, Kohli muscled it off the back foot but found Finch. Played a great hand anyway. "DK, DK" chants begin as he walks in. Kohli c Finch b Daniel Sams 63(48) [4s-3 6s-4]
Daniel Sams to Kohli, THATS OUT!! Caught!!