India vs Australia: Rinku Singh's late blitz, Axar Patel's spin trap and other takeaways from 4th T20I

Suryakumar Yadav won his first series as skipper of Team India as the Men in Blue produced a clinical display to beat Australia by 20 runs in the fourth T20I in Raipur on Tuesday. The win helped India seal the series 3-1 with a game to spare. While the focus ahead of the game were on returning stars like Shreyas Iyer and Deepak Chahar, Rinku Singh (46) was at his usual best with the bat, whereas Axar Patel (3/16) gave a timely reminder to selectors why he is still among India’s best spinners.

Let’s now take a look at five key takeaways from the fourth India-Australia T20I:

Yashasvi Jaiswal converts slow start

Yashasvi Jaiswal, known for his aggressive batting, may not have had the start he would have wanted, but certainly made amends for it. Jaiswal would only get off the mark in the seventh ball he faced, but slowly gained rhythm with his boundaries.

He began with a slice through cover-point for four off Jason Behrendorff’s ball, before going for the on-drive to collect his second boundary, off Dwarshuis’ over in the third. Jaiswal went on to punish Dwarshuis for a couple of boundaries before hitting Chris Green for a four and a six in the fifth over, showcasing his clear aggressive intent.

However, Jaiswal was undone by Aaron Hardie’s short cross-seam delivery. Jaiswal was early on the pull on this occasion, and eventually found McDermott running in from mid-on, who took the catch to complete the dismissal. Jaiswal was dismissed a 28-ball 37, a knock that was fun to witness while it lasted.

Quick Reads

View All

'Won't require surgery...': Real reason behind Jasprit Bumrah's absence from 5th Test revealed in new report

PCB bans players from WCL over India-Pakistan match controversy

Rinku Singh is at it again

Rinku Singh and finishing games are a match made in heaven. He’s showcased that earlier in the series, and he showed why he can be relied upon as a finisher for Team India, with a stupendous effort with the bat.

If there’s anything that makes Rinku Singh worthy of a “finisher” tag, it’s his fearless approach towards batting. That has been the highlight throughout the series, and on Friday, Rinku would go on to amass 46 off just 29 deliveries.

Just Rinku-verse things 😍

Keep watching the action LIVE on #JioCinema, #Sports18 & #ColorsCineplex 🙌#IDFCFirstBankT20ITrophy #INDvAUS #TeamIndia #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/vfsakRGncp

— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) December 1, 2023

Rinku got off to a rather sedate start coming into bat at five in the ninth over, but accelerated his innings from the 12th over onwards. In the 12th over, Rinku brought out his switch hit to launch over backward point eventually punishing Matthew Short and the Aussies. An over later, Rinku would come charging down the track against Ben Dwarshuis before powerfully whacking over wide long-on for a maximum.

While Rinku looked to stay there till the end, it just wasn’t meant to be. It was a yorker from Jason Behrendorff in the final over that struck Rinku on the back pad, eventually being dismissed for 46. Even a review could not save Rinku as ball-tracking showed it was clipping leg stump, but he had certainly done his bit to save India.

Axar Patel shows why he is still the best

Axar Patel was not selected in India’s T20I squad for the series against South Africa in South Africa, and to get over the disappointment of that, the all-rounder had to produce something special.

Bapu ekdum majaama 🙌

Has Axar Patel turned this game on its Head? 😉#INDvAUS #IDFCFirstBankT20ITrophy #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/VP7Y2A0DWA

— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) December 1, 2023

And he did so, by providing a magical spell that would define the outcome of the game. Axar finished with figures of 3/16. His first victim was Australia’s ODI World Cup winner Travis Head, who went for the slog sweep but ended up getting an edge off the bat that flew towards Mukesh Kumar at short third.

Axar would then go on to dismiss Aaron Hardie and Ben McDermott in the seventh and 12th overs, and what’s more, among the 16 runs he gave away, only one of them, a McDermott pull towards midwicket, was a boundary in Axar’s four-over spell.

Deepak Chahar returns in style

Deepak Chahar was playing his first match for India in almost a year, on Friday, but he did return with a couple of wickets despite going for 44 runs in four overs.

Chamakte hue Deepak ✌️ ki baat he kuch aur hoti hain 🤌

How good has the #TeamIndia pace ace proven to be on his return? 😍#INDvAUS #IDFCFirstBankT20ITrophy #JioCinemaSports pic.twitter.com/tRKJUwwEVM

— JioHotstar Reality (@HotstarReality) December 1, 2023

Chahar was a victim of conceding boundaries to Josh Phillippe, Travis Head and even Matthew Short, but he made up for it. In the 15th over, Chahar unleashed a short cutter that made Tim David go for the pull shot, only to get a leading edge that was taken by Jaiswal at deep midwicket.

Exactly a couple of overs later, in the 17th, Chahar teamed up with Jaiswal again. This time to dismiss Short, who went for the pull only to find Jaiswal in the deep.

Ben Dwarshuis makes amends

It was very early on in the match when Ben Dwarshuis would get hit for three boundaries by Yashasvi Jaiswal. That was only the third over of the match, but Dwarshuis would end up being more impactful in the latter stages of the innings.

Dwarshuis dismissed the India skipper in the ninth over after Suryakumar was caught by Matthew Wade.

He would then go on to get hit for a couple of boundaries, by Rinku Singh and Jitesh Sharma. However, Dwarshuis would strike twice in the 19th over.  In the fourth ball of the 19th over, Dwarshuis came up with an attempted yorker, and Jitesh tried to go down the ground, only to miscue the shot towards Travis Head at long-off.

The very next ball he would launch a short one to Axar Patel, who is persuaded to go for the pull, only to find Tanveer Sangha at long-on.

From conceding a dozen runs in his first over, Dwarshuis would go onto register figures of 3/40, albeit ending up on the losing side.