RAIPUR: The Men in Blue became the team with the most wins in the T20I format on Friday after beating Australia.
The Men in Blue accomplished this feat during the fourth T20I against Australia at Raipur.
India won the fourth game by 20 runs, restricting Australia to 154/7 in a chase of 175 runs. They not only won the five-match series 3-1, but also registered their 136th win in the format.
Out of 213 T20Is India has played since its debut in the format back in 2006, India has won 136 matches, lost 67 and one has ended in a tie. Three matches have produced no result. India’s win percentage in the format is 63.84. With this win, they have gone past Pakistan, who have 135 wins in 226 matches.
Other top teams in T20I cricket are New Zealand (102 wins in 200 matches), Australia (95 wins in 181 matches) and South Africa (95 wins in 171 matches).
Coming to the match, Australia put India to bat. Knocks by Yashasvi Jaiswal (37 in 28 balls, with six fours and a six), Ruturaj Gaikwad (32 in 28 balls, with three fours and a six), Rinku Singh (46 in 29 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes) and Jitesh Sharma (35 in 19 balls, with a four and three sixes) helped India reach 174/9 in 20 overs.
Ben Dwarshuis (3/40) shined with the ball in his second T20I appearance. Tanveer Sangha (2/30) and Jason Behrendorff were also impressive with the ball. Aaron Hardie also got a wicket.
In the chase of 175, Travis Head (31 in 16 balls, with five fours and a six) provided Australia with a fine start, but they soon lost their direction. Matthew Short (22 in 19 balls, with two fours and a six) and skipper Matthew Wade (36 in 23 balls, with two fours and two sixes) tried their best to take the Aussies to the match-winning runs, but they fell 20 runs short.
Axar Patel (3/16) and Ravi Bishnoi (1/17) controlled the run flow fantastically with their spin, while Deepak Chahar took 2/44. Avesh Khan also got a wicket. India has taken the series 3-1 with a match to go and Axar was chosen as the ‘Player of the Match’. (ANI)