Australia put on a dominant performance in the second T20 of the five-match series, defeating India by four wickets with 6.4 overs remaining.
Published October 31, 2025
In the second T20I against India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Josh Hazlewood’s ball handling and Mitchell Marsh’s batting blitz helped Australia secure a resounding four-wicket victory.
Fast bowler Hazlewood took 3 for 13 and collected 15 dot balls as Australia defeated India for 125 in front of a crowd of 82,438 at the Sports Coliseum on Friday.
Recommended stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Captain Marsh hit 46 off 26 balls and after sharing a 51-run opening partnership with Travis Head, the hosts reeled off a modest total with 40 balls to spare.
Australia head into Sunday’s third leg in Hobart with a 1-0 lead after a five-game series after Wednesday’s series opener in Canberra was canceled due to rain.
Indian opener Abhishek Sharma top-scored with 68 off 37 balls, adding to his growing reputation with a brilliant maiden fifty on Australian soil.
However, he was one of only two Indian batsmen to achieve double-digit runs on a lively pitch that provided pace and off-seam movement.
Hazlewood gave Shubman Gill LBW on the first ball as Marsh won the toss and elected to field.
The decision was overturned on review, but Hazlewood followed with a short ball that crashed into the top of Gill’s helmet.
An upset Gill attacked Hazlewood hard and was caught five times, causing a collapse of the top order.
Hazlewood had Suryakumar Yadav dismissed for one run, the skipper’s fourth single-digit score in six matches, but two balls later wicketkeeper Inglis caught the top edge and dismissed Tilak Varma for a duck.
By the end of Hazlewood’s four overs, India were in dire straits at 32 for four.
Man of the Match Hazlewood said: “I feel like no matter what format we’re playing, we’re getting the ball really well at the moment.”
“I just put the ball in the right areas. I didn’t try too hard and let’s see what happens.”
Sharma got off to a bright start amid Hazlewood’s onslaught, defeating paceman Xavier Bartlett for 14 runs (2-39) in the first over he faced.
He and Harshit Rana (35) scored 56 runs for 6 wickets, saving India from embarrassment.
However, Bartlett recovered well from an early bruise and dispatched Lana and Shivam Dube (4) in quick succession, the latter being nicely pouched by a diving Inglis.
India’s hopes of getting a decent total ended when Sean Abbott’s sharp drive saw Kuldeep Yadav dismissed for no reason, before Nathan Ellis (2-21) dismissed Abhishek LBW.
