Carrara (Gold Coast) | India never got the momentum they needed after a wicketless powerplay to end with an underwhelming 167 for eight in the fourth T20 International here on Thursday.
Abhishek Sharma (28 off 21) and Shubman Gill (46 off 39) put on 56 for the opening wicket before India lost their way.
Promoted to number three to counter Adam Zampa, Shivam Dube (22 off 18) could not make a big impact while skipper Suryakumar Yadav (20 off 10) departed after hitting a couple of sixes.
Pacer Nathan Ellis (3/21 in 4 overs) was the pick of the Australian bowlers, using his wide range of variations effectively. Zampa leaked 45 runs in his four overs but more importantly he got three wickets including the dangerous Abhishek.
Abhishek stepped out to Zampa in the second ball of his opening spell and dispatched it down the ground for a maximum. The southpaw tried to hit another one out of the park two balls later but was caught at long on.
Abhishek could have been out off the game's second ball off left-arm pacer Ben Dwarshuis but Xavier Bartlett grassed the early opportunity.
Abhishek's friend and opening partner Gill, who is yet to make an impact in the series, had to work hard for his runs. He released some pressure with a massive hit off Marcus Stonis in the cow corner region before falling to a back of the hand slower one from Ellis.
The wickets kept falling thereafter, robbing the innings of any flow. Axar Patel (21 not out off 11) got the much needed boundaries towards the end to push the total past 160.
India lost four wickets for 42 runs in the last five overs.
Scoreboard: IND vs AUS 4th T20I
Following is the scoreboard of the fourth T20 International between India and Australia here on Thursday.
India's innings:
Abhishek Sharma c David b Zampa 21
Shubman Gill b Ellis 46
Shivam Dube b Ellis 22
Suryakumar Yadav c David b Bartlett 20
Tilak Varma c Inglis b Zampa 5
Jitesh Sharma lbw b Zampa 3
Washington Sundar c sub (Kuhnemann) b Ellis 12
Axar Patel not out 21
Arshdeep Singh c Philippe b Stoinis 0
Varun Chakravarthy not out 1
Extras: 9 (lb-3, w-6)
Total: 167/8 in 20 overs
Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-88, 3-121, 4-125, 5-131, 6-136, 7-152, 8-164 Bowling: Ben Dwarshuis 4-0-31-0, Xavier Bartlett 4-0-26-1, Nathan Ellis 4-0-21-3, Marcus Stoinis 4-0-41-1, Adam Zampa 4-0-45-3.
