India 3 for 200 (Rohit 52, Kohli 50, Raina 49*) beat Australia 5 for 197 (Watson 124*) by seven wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
Suresh Raina struck an unbeaten 25-ball 49 to take India over the line © Getty Images
A thrilling chase and a cruel missed chance saw India seal a Twenty20 series sweep over Australia at the SCG, as the more settled side was victorious once again.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli laid the groundwork for India’s pursuit before Suresh Raina was able to finish things off with the help of Yuvraj Singh, who looked out of touch before finding his timing at precisely the right moment as the pair took 19 off Andrew Tye’s final over of the innings to finish off the win.
Raina was fortunate to be there, having escaped a stumping chance second ball. The bowler Cameron Boyce was Australia’s outstanding performer on the night, but he was let down by the glove work of Cameron Bancroft, a speculative choice as wicketkeeper for this match in the absence of Matthew Wade.
The error typified Australia’s muddled approach to this series, just a month out from the World T20 in India. However they did have the consolation of an outstanding century by the stand-in captain Shane Watson, who showed why he should be indispensable to the team’s campaign on the same day his former team-mate Michael Clarke announced he intended to return to cricket after a five-month break.
Full report to follow…
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @danbrettig
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo