India Finally End Australia Drought

India Finally End Australia Drought

MS Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir celebrate their win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

©REUTERS / Action Images

India 135-2 (Gambhir 56 not out) beat
Australia 131 (Finch 36) by 8 wickets
Second Twenty20 International, MCG
Scorecard

India finally emerged victorious for the first time on their disastrous tour of Australia with a comfortable eight-wicket triumph in the second Twenty20 International at the MCG.

Australia, following on from a win for their Women’s team earlier in the day at the same ground, won the toss and chose to bat, but were soon in trouble as David Warner and Shaun Marsh both fell inside the first three overs. Aaron Finch (36 from 23 balls) and George Bailey (three from four balls) were then both accounted for by two bits of brilliance from Ravindra Jadeja in the field to leave the home side tottering on 54 for four.

They never really recovered, in spite of an inspired 32 from 29 balls from ‘keeper Matthew Wade, and were bowled out for just 131 in the final over, with Rahul Sharma and Praveen Kumar ending with a brace of wickets each.

The success of the tourists’ run chase was never in doubt as Gautam Gambhir batted throughout their innings to end unbeaten on 56. He was aided by cameos from Virender Sehwag (23 from 16 balls), Virat Kohli (31 from 24) and MS Dhoni (21 not out from 18) as he eased India home in the final over.

© Cricket World 2012