India beat Australia by six wickets in the final over of the second T20I at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) to take an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the three-match series. Chasing 195 to win, the visitors sealed win with two balls to spare after Hardik Pandya hit two sixes off Daniel Sams in the last over.
Australia scored 194/5 in their 20 overs, after India captain Virat Kohli chose to bowl first at the toss. Matthew Wade (58) and Steve Smith (46) batted well to set up a target that seemed testing for the Indian batsmen. T Natarajan with 2/20 was the only Indian bowler who impressed on the night.
Shikhar Dhawan (52), KL Rahul (30), Virat Kohli (40), and Hardik Pandya (42*) made sure that India kept abreast with the required rate and eventually finished off the game in clincial style with the inexperienced Australian attack unable to control the run flow. Hardik Pandya was named the Man-of-the-Match for his smashing knock.
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Apart from the well-deserved series win, there was another reason to celebrate for the team as three members of the squad, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah and Shreyas Iyer had their birthdays today. Shikhar Dhawan also had his birthday yesterday.
BCCI uploaded a video where three of the birthday boys cut their cakes, while Jadeja was missing as he was resting at the team hotel after suffering a concussion in 2nd T20I which ruled him out of the last two games.
The team members later took to Twitter to post some pictures along with messages appreciating the whole squad's efforts during the series. Here are the tweets:
