Australia's steep nosedive continued as they lost their third match of the ICC World Twenty20 in a row as the form team, a Yuvraj Singh-powered India, romped to a 73-run victory in their Super 10s match at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium yesterday.
After being asked to bat first, Yuvraj -- who averaged 61.75 against Australia in T20Is before the match -- rescued India from 66 for four with a brilliant innings of 60 off 43 balls which included five fours and four sixes, to take them to 159 for seven.
Australia, who have looked out of sorts in spin-friendly conditions, looked in trouble from the start against India's spinners in a dead rubber after Pakistan had beaten Bangladesh in the day's first match. Ravichandran Ashwin was the wrecker-in-chief, taking four for 11 in 3.2 overs. His wickets included top-order batsmen Aaron Finch, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell, before he came back to end the innings by making tail-ender James Muirhead edge behind to skipper MS Dhoni.
Only Maxwell provided a semblance of resistance with three sixes in his 11-ball 23, but when he was bowled by Ashwin in the 10th over to leave Australia at 55 for five, it was just a matter of time before the beleaguered Aussies folded for just 86.
Earlier India experienced unfamiliar territory with the loss of early wickets as Rohit Sharma offered a catch to point in the first over bowled by Brad Hodge. Virat Kohli built a 40-run stand for the second wicket with Ajinkya Rahane but leg-spinner Muirhead beat Kohli in flight to have him caught at long-off in the 7th over and the batting lynchpin's exit saw Rahane and Suresh Raina exit to leave India at a precarious 66 for four in the 12th over.
That brought Yuvraj's favourite T20 batting partner Dhoni to the crease and the left-hander celebrated immediately with a four in the next over and more significantly, two consecutive sixes -- both pulled well into the stands behind midwicket -- off Muirhead in the 14th over. The pair put on 84 runs in only seven overs.
Yuvraj and Dhoni were however at their murderous best in the 17th and 18th overs from Mitchell Starc and Shane Watson when they collected 35 runs. Dhoni hooked a six off Starc and then turned the strike over to Yuvraj, who clipped the fourth ball through midwicket and then hit a towering six over long-off. But the shot that confirmed that he was back to his best came in the next over, when after hitting a four he sent a Watson full delivery into the stands behind square-leg with the simplest of flicks that belied the steel in his wrist.
Australia pulled things back in the next two with the wickets of Yuvraj and Dhoni, meaning that India could only reach 159, but Yuvraj and Dhoni's exploits wrested the momentum definitively from the winless Aussies.
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