Raipur, Dec 2: Axar Patel’s triple strike and Ravi Bishnoi’s impressive spell helped India win the fourth T20I by 20 runs as the hosts completed a series win against Australia in Raipur.Earlier, Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma struck some hefty blows to help India recover after the top four were dismissed inside the 14 overs. Rinku smashed a 29-ball 46 while Jitesh made a 19-ball 35 as India posted 174/9.
Axar Patel, Player of the Match, said, I was trying a lot of things when I was at home and it came out well today. I tried to stick to my strengths and wasn’t really bothered even I had gotten hit and bowling stump-to-stump was the key to negate the dew factor. To stay attacking and be mentally strong is important as there is every chance to get hit in this format. When you go with an attitude to pick wickets, will feel much better. During the (injury) break I focussed on improving myself and add new variations to my bowling to remain successful at the highest level.
Suryakumar Yadav, Indian skipper, said, Other than toss, everything (went well). Boys showed character and that was most important for us. We spoke in the meeting before the game to go out and express yourself and be fearless. I always love putting Axar under pressure and the way he bowled was unbelievable. The plan (during the death overs) was to go for the yorkers and then see what happens.
Matthew Wade, Australian skipper, said We just didn’t play spin very well, lost a few little too wickets in the middle as well. The guys came in did a good job but unfortunately we couldn’t do the job with the bat. Just to continue to learn from the guys who are already established in the team and to have depth in the squad is really key as the T20 WC is round the corner.