Australia rode on a disciplined bowling effort to restrict India to a paltry 118 in the second Twenty20 International at the jam-packed Assam Cricket Association (ACA) Barsapara Stadium here on Tuesday.
Put in to bat after a light drizzle, India were rocked by the pace of Jason Behrendorff, who used the conditions well to send back the duo of Rohit Sharma (8) and skipper Virat Kohli for a duck in the very first over.
Rohit looked good during his brief stay, starting off with two boundaries before an in-swinger from the pacer trapped him plumb in front.
One ball later, Kohli found himself cramped for room, forcing him to play across the line but only resulted in a caught and bowled dismissal for Behrendorff.
The third over witnessed the dismissal of Manish Pandey (6) before opener Shikhar Dhawan (2) was packed back in the next over by Behrendorff.
Pandey nicked a short of good length delivery back to stumper Tim Paine before Dhawan, who was running out of partners fell to a brilliant catch by David Warner at mid-off.
Tottering at 27/4, Kedar Jadhav (27) and former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (13) joined forces but Australia looked simply unstoppable on the night.
India on the other hand, failed to get going with Dhoni being stumped for the first time in a T20 International after adding 33 runs for the fifth wicket with Jadhav.
Jadhav looked fluent during his stay, slamming three boundaries and a six to get to a run-a-ball 27 before being outfoxed by a wrong one from leg-spinner Adam Zampa.
Zampa got into his act quickly to unsettle the set duo of Dhoni and Jadhav in successive overs as India struggled to put runs on the board.
Reeling at 70/7 by the 13th over, all-rounder Hardik Pandya offered some resistance with a 23-ball 25, but his stay at the crease was cut short by a brilliant low catch by Dan Christian at the long off boundary off Marcus Stoinis.
Towards the end, a few miscued hits from Kuldeep Yadav (16) and Jasprit Bumrah (7) helped the hosts get to the three-figure mark.
For the visitors, Behrendorff (4/21) and Zampa (2/19) were the pick of the bowlers even as Nathan Coulter-Nile, Andrew Tye and Stoinis accounted for one wicket each.
Brief Scores: India 118 (Kedar Jadhav 27, Hardik Pandya 25, Kuldeep Yadav 16; Jason Behrendorff 4/21, Adam Zampa 2/19) against Australia.
--IANS
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