Questions are starting to mount over Australia’s white-ball depth after their second-stringers have failed to fire in India.
With a side featuring mainly fringe candidates for next year’s World Cup squad, only established stars Travis Head and Matthew Wade made decent contributions with the bat as the Aussies fell shot in their run-chase.
India exacted some belated retribution for their World Cup heartbreak with their spinners spearheading a series-sealing 20-run victory over a much-changed Australia in the fourth Twenty20 at Raipur.
After being sent in, India lost five wickets for seven runs from their last nine balls to stumble to 9-174 on Friday (Saturday AEDT) before bouncing back to restrict Australia to 7-154 and move into an unassailable 3-1 lead in the five-match series.
Captain Matthew Wade (36no) swung hard late after World Cup final hero Travis Head (31) made a typically fast start, but Australia were tied down in-between by tweakers Axar Patel (3-16) and Ravi Bishnoi (1-17).
With the venue relying on generators to power the floodlights due to unpaid electricity bills, Australia made a high-voltage start, motoring to 0-40 from three overs, before the introduction of spin twins Patel and Bishnoi – the series’ two leading wicket-takers – completely changed the complexion of the chase.
Legspinner Bishnoi started the 3-12 burst when he castled Josh Philippe (8) before Patel removed dangerman Head – top-edging a slog sweep to Mukesh Kumar – and Aaron Hardie (8).
Patel then switched ends and bowled Ben McDermott (19) before Tim David (19) and Matt Short (22) holed out.
That left Wade, the supporting act in the Glenn Maxwell show at Guwahati two nights earlier, with too much to do by himself with the asking rate spiralling.
“We just didn’t play the spin very well through the middle,” Wade said.
“They got hold of us in the fourth and fifth over and they didn’t really let go.
“Some areas to tidy up, especially against the spin.”
It was a very different looking Australia team to take the field for the penultimate match, with offspinner Chris Green coming in for his debut, while Philippe, McDermott and Ben Dwarshuis were also given a chance, with Maxwell and fellow World Cup winners Marcus Stoinis and Josh Inglis having returned home.
In the Indian innings, Dwarshuis (3-40) and his fellow left-arm seamer Jason Behrendorff (2-32) produced a clatter of late wickets to cap Australia’s best bowling performance of the series.
Josh Philippe is bowled out by Ravi Bishnoi in Raipur. (Photo by Pankaj Nangia/Getty Images)
Rinku Singh (46) top-scored for a young India side, who looked on track for a total closer to 200 before their calamitous last nine balls.
Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (37) was the early aggressor before his downfall sparked a 3-13 top-order tremble.
Shreyas Iyer (8) followed before captain Suryakumar Yadav (1) nicked off, presenting Dwarshuis with his maiden T20I wicket.
Ruturaj Gaikwad (32) was regularly starved of the strike before falling victim to wrist-spinner Tanveer Sangha (2-30).
Rinku and Jitesh Sharma (35) added 56 quick runs for the fifth wicket and threatened to put India in total command.
Jitesh’s departure, lofting Dwarshuis to Head on the boundary in the 19th over, set in motion the late collapse with five wickets falling in 11 deliveries as Behrendorff bowled a fine death over for just six runs as three wickets tumbled.
The fifth and final match of the series is at Bengaluru on Sunday (Monday AEDT)
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
What a catastrophe this chase has been. If this is really our next generation of white ball talent, we’re screwed
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
I’ve seen very little of Hardie batting but he’s looked like a fish out of water batting at 4 here. No clue how to work for singles, defence all over the place and zero timing when hitting. I know he has scored runs in FC cricket - perhaps he’s not a T20 player
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Probably!
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Clearly it’s about Don yeah? A bit petty to stoop down to his level though.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Yeah, you missed my point. Which wasn’t about the player at all.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
No I haven’t - so many people on this site love to stick the boot into young players the minute they fail, it’s exactly what you’ve done just there. The level of conservatism amongst Australian cricket fans is only matched by the selectors. Anyone new that’s not from the great state of NSW gets ridiculed the minute they fail - It’s taken 10 years for people to warm to Travis Head, people wanted him dropped for ages when he was younger.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
You’ve missed my point.
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
Exactly!
Christo the Daddyo
Roar Rookie
You’ve missed the point.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Corey Wasley is going to be a star - saw the kid belt 180 odd as a 14 year old against Melville down at Tompkins Park, insane innings.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
It’s pretty common on this site - any chance to knock on a young player for poor performances is taken with a high level of glee. Hardie will be fine, he’s batted 3 times in international cricket on away tours in South Africa and India, same goes for the likes of Matt Short, Spencer Johnson and Phillipe.
13th Man
Roar Rookie
Hahaha let’s continue to write young players off after their third innings at international level hey - glad none of you are selectors.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
What's happened? I must've missed something. I like WA. I even like Victoria. But l just can't get enthused for T20-AI
Redcap
Roar Guru
"WA generates 50%+ of the country’s income" Impressive. Hang on, though. By what measure, Jeffrey?
nics
Roar Rookie
Jeff - this isn't really Hardie-bashing. By way of context, you might have missed recent commentary by our favourite WA poster regarding Hardie's previous game - apparently he "batted really well". I personally hope Hardie does well but it speaks volumes when 12 off 9 and 64 runs conceded off 4 overs is considered acceptable by a certain poster because the player is from WA.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I hope it turns out. Like if he wants yo go home after a few years Crows and Eagles have productive pow-wow or whatever the lingua franca birds speak
Doctor Rotcod
Roar Rookie
The other 50% comes from Qld resources, bank profits in NSW and real estate gouging in Victoria,but you never heard that from me.
Doctor Rotcod
Roar Rookie
And I see that WA's Corey Wasley in the U/19 state one-day championship hit a lazy, unmerited and irrelevant 140 something off 116 deliveries . He'll do. The expectation is that NSW and Victoria just have to turn up to win. Not actually happening...
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Yeah. Along with a 16yo Venus Williams "at her peak", yeah?
Ben Pobjie
Expert
They should never be allowed INTO Australia again.