Behrendorff stars as Australia level T20 series with emphatic win over India

10 October 2017 08:24

Jason Behrendorff marked his second Twenty20 international with four wickets as Australia recorded a comfortable eight-wicket win over India to level the three-match series at 1-1.

The left-arm paceman ripped through the hosts' top order in Guwahati before an unbroken third-wicket partnership of 109 from Moises Henriques (62no) and Travis Head (48no) helped Australia coast to victory.

In the first international match held at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Australia captain David Warner put India into bat and then saw his side begin quickly as they attempted to remain in the series.

Behrendorff trapped opener Rohit Sharma lbw and then took a return catch to see off India captain Virat Kohli for a duck inside the first over.

He continued his impressive attack by taking the wickets of Manish Pandey and Shikhar Dhawan to leave the hosts struggling on 27 for four.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav offered some resistance with a fifth-wicket stand of 33 before Adam Zampa had the former stumped for 13 and clean bowled the latter for 27.

Hardik Pandya's knock of 25 and 16 from left-hander Kuldeep Yadav helped put some more runs on the board but the hosts were bowled out for 118 off the final ball of their 20 overs, leaving Australia chasing a modest 119 for victory.

The tourists' innings also got off to a slow start as Warner and Aaron Finch were each caught by Kohli inside three overs following the respective deliveries of Jasprit Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

India, however, made no further breakthroughs and Henriques - whose knock included four fours and four sixes - and Head wrapped up a convincing success with 27 balls remaining.

Source: PA