Arshdeep-Singh. (Photo by BIJU BORO/AFP via Getty Images)

India and Australia squared off in the fifth and final T20I on Sunday, December 3, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Matthew Wade won the toss and opted to bowl first. He reckoned that the pitch could be tacky and his prediction proved to be right as the Indian batters struggled to time the ball throughout the course of their innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal tried to take the attack to the Aussie bowlers but he was dismissed for 21 off 15 balls after hitting one four and two sixes. The in-form Ruturaj Gaikwad departed for 10 off 12 balls and the onus was on the experienced duo of Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav to bail the hosts out of a predicament.

However, things went from bad to worse as the Indian captain was dismissed for five. Rinku Singh joined his Kolkata Knight Riders teammate Iyer at the crease but their partnership lasted only 14 balls. The southpaw tried to hit Tanveer Sangha into the stands but he miscued his hit to Tim David at long-on. India were in desperate need of a partnership and they got that thanks to Jitesh Sharma and Iyer.

The flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter scored a counter-attacking 24 off 16 deliveries, registering 42 runs off 24 balls with the Mumbai batter. After Jitesh’s dismissal, Axar Patel played a handy 31-run knock off 21 balls to give the Indian innings some impetus. Iyer notched up a fine half-century on a difficult pitch before being dismissed for 53 off 37 balls. Jason Behrendorff and Ben Dwarshuis picked up a couple of wickets each while Aaron Hardie, Nathan Ellis, and Tanveer Sangha chipped in with one wicket each. India finished on 160/8 in their 20 overs.

Travis Head attacked Arshdeep Singh in the first over and 14 runs came off it. Mukesh Kumar was introduced in the third over and he dismissed Josh Philippe. Ravi Bishnoi came in to bowl the fifth over and he got rid of the dangerous Head. Ben McDermott played a fantastic knock as his 54 runs off 36 balls helped Australia get back in the chase. Tim David provided him good company as the duo stitched a fourth-wicket partnership of 47 runs off 38 balls.

India kept on chipping at the wickets as Australia were pegged back substantially. However, they kept the required run rate well within control. Mukesh Kumar was impressive at the death as he bagged two wickets and bowled a fine penultimate over that went for just seven runs. In the last over, Arshdeep Singh had 10 runs to defend with Matthew Wade on strike. The dangerous wicketkeeper-batter was dismissed off the third ball after playing two dot balls. In the end, Australia lost by six runs as India won the series 4-1.

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