Australia beat India by 12 runs in the third T20 international – as it happened

Virat Kohli’s dazzling 85 not enough for Indian clean sweepMatthew Wade hits 80 and Glenn Maxwell 54 for Australia

11.53am GMT

It looks close in the end, but really that match was beyond India’s grasp from the point where the two leg-spinners closed down the scoring through the middle of the second innings. They pulled out that sort of chase the other night, but you can’t do it every time, not leaving that much to the end. Kohli ended up playing more or less a lone hand with his 85 off 61, and if he’d had consistent company towards the end he might have got them home and brought up his first T20 International century. Not to be.

A consolation win for the Australians after losing the first two in this series. Matthew Wade should have inked himself in at the top of the order for the foreseeable future, another 80 after his 58 the other night, though of course that won’t happen once David Warner comes back. Glenn Maxwell played the ultimate #Maxwellball innings: dropped a couple of times, out off a no-ball, reverse-sweeps, sixes aplenty, other sixes saved, driving Australia to a big score with his 54 scored at nine an over. Then picked up the early wicket of Rahul and should have had Kohli but for another catch.

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11.51am GMT

20th over: India 174-6 chasing 187 (Thakur 17, Chahar 0) Four balls remaining after Sundar’s dismissal, and Thakur has the strike after crossing. Chahar is at the non-striker’s end. Thakur hits another six! A low full toss, over the leg side. They need 17 from 3 balls, and it’s still possible. But not when Thakur can only get two runs along the ground to deep backward. Now Australia can’t lose without extras, and a deflated Thakur swings and misses at the penultimate delviery, short and wide. He collects the next one, out to deep midwicket, where Sams drops the catch. The match ends as it began, ropey in the field, and Abbott is cost another consolation wicket after another dirty night, but Australia wins.

11.48am GMT

Sean Abbott to bowl that last over, with his figures reading 0 for 35 from three. Washington Sundar drives off the back foot over cover for four to start things off. 23 needed from 5 balls, but Abbott’s full toss does the job, Sundar slicing it to deep third where Tye slides in on his knees like a kid playing rockstar. That ball was touch and go for being a no-ball for height, but just crept in.

11.45am GMT

19th over: India 160-6 chasing 187 (Sundar 3, Thakur 7) The over doesn’t end without one more bit of interest though, with Shardul Thakur swinging Tye off his legs away for six!

So they need 27 from the last over. Possible, as long as the sixes keep coming.

11.43am GMT

Not any more though! Tonight, Hans Gruber wins. As played by AJ Tye, whose bowling has been decisive. Full and wide, Kohli drives square, gives it everything, which gives it the power to reach Sams at deep point, who takes the catch tumbling forward. That’s the game.

11.41am GMT

18th over: India 151-5 chasing 187 (Kohli 84, Sundar 1) Kohli responds the ball after the wicket by skipping down to drive four, straight, but his next shot is a single. Can’t afford to lose strike at this point, you wonder if he should be declining those runs. Washington Sundar misses a sweep, then drives a run. Had Kohli stayed on strike, one of those balls might have been a boundary. Or he could be stumped, like he should have been from the last ball of that over! Down the track, hard swing at a flat ball, it clips his back pad right on the flat and deflects so that Wade can’t take it, and Kohli gets a leg bye and keeps strike. More lives than John McClane so far tonight.

11.37am GMT

Finch hurls the ball skyward! It was a gamble throwing the ball to his spinner, with overs still available for Abbott and Henriques, but Zampa is the best quality bowler remaining. And it works! Some flight, Pandya wants to put it into space, and his shot over midwicket instead edges into his pad and loops to short third man. That’s clutch.

11.35am GMT

17th over: India 144-4 chasing 187 (Kohli 79, Pandya 20) Rod Tucker is playing havoc with India’s captain tonight. At the start of Tye’s over, Kohli steps well across, so Tye goes wider still. That ball goes wide of the return crease. Tucker says that because Kohli moved, it’s not a wide. I’m not sure that’s correct when the ball almost lands off the cut strip. Next ball Kohli drags a single, then Pandya has a fresh air shot, before smoking four through the covers.

Back and forth, cat and mouse. Fifth ball, Pandya backs away and batters it down the ground for six! Swings through a length ball, more height than distance, but enough of both as it lands near the sight screen.

11.31am GMT

16th over: India 131-4 chasing 187 (Kohli 78, Pandya 9) Total crash-bash isn’t his style, but Kohli is the set player and he has to go for it. Has Sams bowling left-arm over the wicket, into his pads, and Kohli heaves six over the leg side! Up off his legs and away into the crowd. Next ball, steps to the off side and plays a pick-up pull shot for six! Over fine leg this time. That’s a deft shot, just used the pace and deflected it away.

Needs plenty more of those, though, and can only flick a single square. Pandya swings and misses. Doesn’t miss the last one though. Cuts it for six. Backs away for room, and muscles that over deep point. That’s a shot not many can play.

11.26am GMT

15th over: India 111-4 chasing 187 (Kohli 65, Pandya 2) Tye has only bowled one over so far tonight. Starts his second with a wide ball that Kohli leaves, but it just sneaks in within the guidelines. Then can’t get more than single. Wants to tee off. They’ve left too much to the end, India. Pandya booms and misses at a change-up. Makes contact with a big off-drive, but mostly via the outside edge and it slices to the deep cover fielder for one. Long chat between Finch and Tye. Deep third, deep point, long-off. That field supports Tye bowling wide, and he wins another little contest! Wide and shorter, and Kohli misses, then wider still and Kohli leaves again but the umpire won’t call it! Kohli did take a step across before leaving, and Umpire Tucker was obviously saying that if the batsman moves across, so does the wide line, because that ball was clearly outside the guides.

Two runs from an over, in this stituation! India aren’t getting 76 from 30 balls.

11.21am GMT

14th over: India 109-4 chasing 187 (Kohli 64, Pandya 1) Abbott comes back – Finch wants to give his internationally inexperienced bowler a chance to work his way back into the game. It starts well, with Pandya fiddling at a couple and missing a push outside off. It doesn’t end so well when Kohli fakes a step to the off side, then skips down a step and plays a check-drive over long-off for six! Some shot there. Takes a single from the last, nine from the over in total, but India need 78 from 36 balls now and within a couple of overs of spin the balance of the contest has changed drastically.

11.16am GMT

13th over: India 100-4 chasing 187 (Kohli 56) Quite the over. In between the two wickets we saw top quality from Smith again! The ball after taking the catch for the first wicket, Kohli decides to show the departed Samson how it’s done. Hits his on-drive sweetly from Swepson, looks for all money like it’s sailing for six, but Smith produces an effort like Samson’s earlier, getting aerial and launching himself backwards to parry the ball back into play and save the six.

There’s a long delay while they check that his foot hadn’t touched the rope before he took off, which would have made it six, but the video is too grainy to tell, and it looks ok. Six runs become two runs.

11.15am GMT

Two in the over for Swepson! Golden duck for Iyer. He watches a couple of balls from the non-striker’s end, but when he faces the bowling for the first time he misreads the googly and it hits him in front of off stump, going straight. See ya.

11.10am GMT

No mistake from Smith this time. A low full toss from the leg-spinner, dipping on Samson, who tries to lump it down the ground. Doesn’t strike it sweetly at all, and Smith cantering in from long-on makes easy work of this opportunity. Shreyas Iyer comes in next. Not time for Pandya yet?

11.08am GMT

12th over: India 94-2 chasing 187 (Kohli 50, Samson 10) Kohli down the wicket to Zampa, driving a single to deep point. Samson plays similarly but opens the face better, directs it further behind point and it takes a dive from Short on the rope to keep it in. Kohli advances again, more of a cut shot, finds the sweeper again. Gets the strike back and drives one more run for his minor milestone: that makes 25 such scores in T20s for India.

11.04am GMT

11th over: India 87-2 chasing 187 (Kohli 47, Samson 6) The double leggies continue, fast and flat from Swepson as Kohli cuts, then Samson dabs, then Kohli drives, but there’s nothing but singles. Until there’s a very unenthusiastic DRS review for leg-before, with Samson sweeping over the top of Swepson and being hit on the back leg. It was marginally pitching in line with leg stump, but going on straight and missing leg. Even Wade didn’t really want the review, he was basically indicating that they might as well have a look. Which isn’t what the system was intended for, and it has to evolve and move beyond being at the players’ request. Five runs from the over, helps tip the scales in Australia’s favour.

11.00am GMT

10th over: India 82-2 chasing 187 (Kohli 44, Samson 4) Zampa to Kohli, always an interesting one. Inside half of the bat as Kohli advances to drive, straight to the bowler. Driven for a single, later forced off the stumps on the back foot. Samson picks up three where he should have had one, first with an overthrow, then with a misfield of it. Kohli in the cap just checks a defensive push for a run to point.

India need 10 an over now, 105 from 60 balls.

10.57am GMT

9th over: India 75-2 chasing 187 (Kohli 41, Samson 0) The batters cross, so Kohli has strike for the last ball of the over, and keeps it with a single. Get ready for some double leg-spin, with Adam Zampa warming up.

10.55am GMT

Almost another drop, but it ends up looking great. Swepson bowls a flat half-tracker, Dhawan pulls but can’t get power or elevation. Sams about two third of the way to the midwicket rope runs across to his left and should take it cleanly with both hands, but the ball is travelling and it slips through, hits him lobs forward, but luckily he’s falling in the same direction, so he dives and sticks out his left hand the ball lodges. Doesn’t matter how, he’s got the snare!

10.53am GMT

8th over: India 69-1 chasing 187 (Dhawan 27, Kohli 36) Finch gives Maxwell another shake, and this time he gets a taste of his own medicine: reverse-swept by Dhawan for four. A few singles and they take eight from the over.

10.52am GMT

7th over: India 61-1 chasing 187 (Dhawan 21, Kohli 34) As soon as the Powerplay finishes, the leg-spinner comes on, Mitchell Swepson going for six singles. India more or less on target at this stage, not far behind the required run rate.

10.45am GMT

6th over: India 55-1 chasing 187 (Dhawan 18, Kohli 31) Shawwwwwt! That makes up for some of the chances! Kohli steps down the wicket like he’s strolling down the promenade and drives Abbott away, scorching the turf, through cover for four. Then wrists a single and runs so fast that he’s hit by the throw from midwicket at the non-striker’s end. Dhawan has been little more than a spectator to this point, so the lefty has a huge on-drive at Abbott and gets an outside edge over short third instead for four. A couple of balls later Dhawan gets full contact, stepping into Abbott’s length ball and swinging it hard through straight long-off for another boundary. Knee half bent, bat angled, that wasn’t a conventional drive, more a utilitarian bosh. Still worked.

Abbott’s first two overs cost 26. Is that him dragged for the night three matches running?

10.39am GMT

5th over: India 40-1 chasing 187 (Dhawan 9, Kohli 25) AJ Tye comes on to bowl and Kohli is dropped again! Two chances and two other dicey moments already for the champ. This one Tye can’t blame anyone else, as Kohli drives hard back at the bowler, who gets both hands up and has it bounce off his palms and back between his wrists. Saves three runs. But Kohli takes them back when Tye drops short, and the captain uppercuts for four over deep backward.

10.37am GMT

4th over: India 33-1 chasing 187 (Dhawan 8, Kohli 19) Here’s Daniel Sams, who got Kohli to nick off on Sunday night, but then got smashed in the final over as India won. Kohli starts the night for Sames by playing his neat pick-up flick off his legs, away for four. That start lets them milk 10 from the Sams over.

10.33am GMT

3rd over: India 23-1 chasing 187 (Dhawan 7, Kohli 12) Maxwell to continue after a wicket in his first over, and this time he has Kohli dropped in the deep! Smith again with the chance, but this time it’s coming flatter and he’s lost it in the lights. We could see him holding his hand up to the glare as the ball comes in, and in the end it hits high on his fingers as he’s reverse-cupped with the palms out, and it bursts through to hit his chest and go down. Kohli came down the wicket for that shot and was trying to loft straighter than that, over long-on, but miscues it squarer to deep midwicket. The over ends up going for six singles plus a wide with an extra run. Hard luck, Glenn.

10.28am GMT

2nd over: India 15-1 chasing 187 (Dhawan 5, Kohli 8) Sean Abott from the other end. He’s taken a battering lately: only two overs in each of the first two matches after being smashed about, and that came after he was mauled at the back end of the third ODI in Canberra. Singles to start with tonight, and one very wide wide. Kohli tries the baseball shot against Abbott’s length balls a couple of times, but one goes off the toe back past the bowler, almost a catching chance, and the other off the bottom edge past the leg stump. Neither reaches the boundary but Abbott is unlucky.

10.22am GMT

1st over: India 4-1 chasing 187 (Dhawan 2, Kohli 2) The captain Kohli to the middle at just about the earliest opportunity. Takes a single. So does Dhawan. They end up with four runs. Points to Australia, points to Finch. The move has worked.

10.20am GMT

MAX
WELL
BALL

Except that it’s Maxwell with the ball. He opens the bowler for Australia! He bowls a dot, driven to cover. His off-breaks that no one thinks too much about. KL Rahul tries to swing the second one away. Out to deep midwicket. Straight to the man in the deep. Gone-ski!

10.04am GMT

Another well placed match. India chased 195 the other night, but that did take a minor miracle of an innings from Hardik Pandya. They can get this total if they start well, but that’s probably the key tonight. End of the series, everyone feeling a little weary, who knows how that may go. Also I’m pretty sure this is the same pitch that they played on the other night, so it might be a little harder to strike through the ball. For all their hitting, we did see the Australians struggle at times through that innings. Should be a good reply.

9.59am GMT

2oth over: Australia 186-5 (Henriques 5, Sams 4) Daniel Sams comes in with two balls to face, drives one hard through cover for four, then swings and misses at the other. That’s the innings: 11 runs and two wickets from the final over bowled by Natarajan.

9.57am GMT

Short and sweet. The Northen Territorian squeezes two runs square, drives four over cover, then plays down the ground and has to come back for a second. The throw is spot-on coming into the striker’s end, and keeper Rahul beats Short’s dive.

9.55am GMT

That helps India. It isn’t a great ball, a high full toss that slipped from the hand while attempting a yorker, but Maxwell has premeditated the reverse deflection, hoping to use Natarajan’s pace, and in the end the straighter line of the ball makes it too hard to get any bat from it. It sneaks through Maxwell’s tangle of pads and body to hit the stumps.

9.53am GMT

19th over: Australia 175-3 (Maxwell 54, Henriques 5) Mo Henriques is the next in on his home ground, and he’s off the mark with a four! Down the track, drives Thakur out to deep cover, and there’s protection there but Washington Sundar loses his footing as he tries to change direction, his feet shooting from under him. Thakur closes out the over well though: one, dot, one.

9.49am GMT

Finally the Indians have one go their way. Wade has missed a lot of balls on his pads tonight but has survived. This time Thakur bowls over the wicket, hits him in front of leg stump low on the pad, and it’s a fairly straightforward call. He reviews, because why not, but it doesn’t save him. Another good performance from Wade tonight.

9.47am GMT

18th over: Australia 168-2 (Wade 80, Maxwell 52) It feels like Wade has barely seen the bowling in the last few overs. He’s certainly taken a back seat. That continues as he jams out a single from a wide Natarajan yorker. Maxwell has fine leg drop back, square leg come up. So he steps outside and flicks along the ground through that vacant square leg for four. He has two fielders at short third inside the circle and one back at deep point, so he drives over cover but the deep point saves four.

9.42am GMT

17th over: Australia 157-2 (Wade 76, Maxwell 46) Another over, another lost review looking for a reverse-sweep nick against Maxwell. Again KL Rahul is convinced, and again he gets Kohli to play ball, but again there’s no contact. Thakur is the bowler this time. Again they can’t find the boundary. 11 balls without one at this stage. Maxwell calls for a change of bat. Then he tries his helicopter cover drive, but skews it high over backward point, and is dropped! Chahar running in spills it.

So what does Maxwell do? SIX! Thakur bowls what would have been a filthy wide, well outside the tram tracks on the off side, almost off the pitch. Except that Maxwell steps that far across, gets all but outside the line of it, and sends it flying over the square leg fence! A length ball, a flick, another truly outrageous shot.

9.34am GMT

16th over: Australia 145-2 (Wade 73, Maxwell 37) Deepak Chahar will be pretty happy with this over. Maxwell misses a reverse dab, Wade gets a filthy full toss but can only drag it for two, and in the end they get six from an over that’s deep in the danger zone with two set batters swinging.

9.32am GMT

15th over: Australia 139-2 (Wade 69, Maxwell 35) There’s Maxwell’s six! And again it’s a shot that he seems to make up on the spot. He’s hoping to go over the leg side from Chahal but the bowler drifts very wide. So Maxwell hits through that width, a fullish ball, with a snap of his wrists, and that gets enough power on it to go dead straight and carry the rope at long-off. He hits that on one leg, too, Hello Sailor style, and still nails it.

Two balls later, six again, as Maxwell goes back on his stumps this time and pulls over square leg for a big one! KL Rahul asks for a DRS review last ball of the over as Maxi misses a reverse sweep, but there’s no edge on the replay.

9.27am GMT

14th over: Australia 124-2 (Wade 68, Maxwell 22) Maxwell tries to celebrate his reprieve with a six down the ground, but that’s an unbelievable bit of fielding from Sanju Samson, who leaps up at long-on and parries the ball back into the field of play! It only scores two. Wade, though, belts Thakur over midwicket into the stands.

9.21am GMT

13th over: Australia 114-2 (Wade 61, Maxwell 19) Chahal to Maxwell, and you can guess what happens next. Not the full switch hit but a regular reverse sweep, getting very low so as to hit it with a horizontal bat and lifting it over backward point for four. Chahal stays wide, Maxwell goes again, three runs this time. Wade takes a single. Chahal bowls wider still. And this time, when Maxwell finally stops looking to the off side and swings across the line instead, he gets a huge top edge and Rahul comes around to take the catch.

BUT IT’S A NO-BALL!

9.13am GMT

12th over: Australia 101-2 (Wade 58, Maxwell 11) Shardul Thakur hasn’t bowled yet tonight, interestingly. Probably wishes he hadn’t started yet as Wade takes a half-volley off middle stump and launches it into the crowd! Long hit. Thakur tries a bouncer to Maxwell who plays... let’s call that a late uppercut, very fine but saved by deep third for two. So Maxwell goes the other way, walking across and dinking the ball over short fine leg for four.

The replays are showing that umpire Rod Tucker initially called for a DRS replay for Natarajan after Kohli asked for it from long-on. But the third umpire overruled and said that it couldn’t take place. This system is better than VAR but it’s a long way from perfect.

9.09am GMT

11th over: Australia 87-2 (Wade 51, Maxwell 4) Natarajan keeps hitting the spot. Gets wided for a bouncer but they can’t get much from him with the bat. Wade slants away a couple of runs off the pad and raises his fifty, two in a row now. This one a touch slower than his work the other night.

Then things get interesting. Natarajan hits Wade on the pad around leg stump, and scrambles to field the ball before appealing. The umpire says not out but Natarajan wants to review. It did look like that ball was swinging into Wade, straightening on the leg stump line. But a lot of time has passed. Eventually Kohli asks to review, but was that too long? Wade thinks so. And what has happened is that in the meantime, a replay has been shown on the big screen. So the umpires refuse a DRS review on that basis, even if it wasn’t too late.

9.00am GMT

10th over: Australia 82-2 (Wade 48, Maxwell 3) Glenn Maxwell to the crease. Into it immediately, three from his first two balls.

8.59am GMT

Washington Sundar again! Three balls after Rahul misses a stumping! That chance was stone-cold, again the faster ball but fuller, Smith has skipped down but is nowhere near it, it races through him but is so quick it hits Rahul in the chest and bounces away. Smith is miles down but the ricochet means he has time to get back.

Sundar follows up by bowling short with Smith carves for four, then Smith drives a couple through midwicket, but finally Sundar foxes him by adding flight to the ball. Smith tries to launch it over cover but misses as it comes slower through the air, and it clips the bail. Straight into Rahul’s gloves from the bail too, a clean take. So it goes.

8.54am GMT

9th over: Australia 73-1 (Wade 48, Smith 18) Kohli drops out to the deep midwicket fence for Wade, which sends the crowd down there into spasms of chanting. Both batsmen are trying to line up big heaves in that direction against Chahal, but can’t split the field. The skinny leggie pauses to order a bright green SCG staffer away from the general vicinity of the sight screen, then closes out an over that costs five singles.

8.50am GMT

8th over: Australia 68-1 (Wade 46, Smith 15) Washington Sundar is back. He bowls that dug-in carrom ball, the one that Wade smashed and that Finch got out to. Smith cuts it off the top edge and down to deep third on the bounce. Uncontrolled. Wade isn’t sure why it’s troubling anyone else, as he backs and slots another one through midwicket for four. That’s the fifty partnership. He aims a big slog-sweep to follow but only drags the under-edge down to deep backward square. Sundar stays round the wicket against the right-handed Smith, who backs away from his stumps to force a run through cover.

8.46am GMT

7th over: Australia 58-1 (Wade 39, Smith 12) The fielding restrictions are over, the Indians now have deep backward, deep mid, long-on, long-off, and deep cover point. Yuzvendra Chahal will bowl his leg-breaks. Wade drives a couple, sweeps a single. Chahal bowls flat to Smith who works a single to midwicket. Hasn’t tried anything big yet. Wade the more likely to swing. Chahal keeps bowling on his leg stump, which could be a bad move considering how well Wade sweeps. Only costs him a run this time, Smith drives another aerially. Wade comes across to off stump to wrist a wider ball away through midwicket. Just one. Chahal concedes seven.

8.41am GMT

6th over: Australia 51-1 (Wade 34, Smith 10) Natarajan will round out the Powerplay, and he holds Smith to one run from the first three balls. Hitting a nice length from over the wicket as a left-armer, not giving Smith room. Bowls a good yorker in at the toes of Wade who digs out a run. A bit of shape and that pitched right on the popping crease. Smith manages another three runs, with a strong on-drive to a length ball, forcing it away with the bottom hand. Kohli puts in a good chase to save the boundary. Wade gets the yorker again and can only find one again, a single to mid-off that might have been dangerous had the throw back to the bowler’s stumps been better. Excellent over.

8.36am GMT

5th over: Australia 45-1 (Wade 32, Smith 6) Runs from the bat to start Chahar’s third though, just a touch short and Wade cracks the pull shot for four. And again the next ball, overpitched and wider so Wade lofts through cover! Not that full, Wade drives on the up. Chahar goes very short and way too wide, and it balloons through to KL Rahul behind the stumps on the angle for an extra. Comes around the wicket does the right-armer to the lefty, hits a better length and Wade can only force to cover for a run. Back over the wicket to the right-handed Smith, who flicks a single hard but to the boundary rider square. Kohli and Pandya both come over to discuss the final two balls of Chahar’s over with him. They drop Kohli to long-on for Wade so Chahar can pitch up at the stumps from around the wicket, but Wade inside edges for runs! A big drive picks him up three. So much for plans. Smith finishes the over with three more! A nicely timed cover drive, bottom handed, into the gap. How often do you see back-to-back threes in a T20?

8.30am GMT

4th over: Australia 28-1 (Wade 20, Smith 2) Sundar slips down the leg side to start his next over, and umpire Gerard Abood wearing a helmet out there signals five wides. Then Sunday gets too short, and Wade sweeps hard for four! Along the ground through backward square. Sundar’s frugality vanishes for a moment. Gets back on track by foxing Wade on a couple of cut shots. Two singles from the rest of the over, and a decent lbw shout that would have hit the stumps as Wade misses a sweep, but the ball has pitched outside leg and they scramble a leg bye. A dozen from the over but only six from the bat.

8.25am GMT

3rd over: Australia 16-1 (Wade 15, Smith 1) Chahar bowls a good inswinging yorker to the right-handed Smith, who plays it straight to midwicket in the circle. Squirts an edge into the covers to get off the mark. Chahar is bowling really well here. Some inswing to Wade has the left-hander driving straight to mid-off, then more inward movement from back of a length cuts the batsman in half as he tries to cut, the ball decking back into him. When he connects a pull shot it only yields a single. Two from the over.

The DRS shows a replay from the previous over where Sundar hit Wade on the pad, it looked like it was going down leg on a live view, but that’s because Wade was moving across his stumps. The replay shows it clipping the bails, umpire’s call. Wasn’t much of an appeal for it from a keeper and a bowler worrying more about fielding the ball to stop a leg bye.

8.21am GMT

2nd over: Australia 14-1 (Wade 14, Smith 0) The batters cross while the ball is in the air, so Wade is on strike when Smith comes to the middle. Doesn’t score from the remaining two balls, so Sundar has 1 for 5 from his first over. Wade has scored all of Australia’s runs to date.

8.19am GMT

Washington Sundar strikes in his first over! No surprise to see him bowl in the Powerplay, the finger-spinner has an exceptional T20 economy rate across what is now a substantial career for a 21-year-old. He makes a mistake first ball , an attempted carrom ball to Wade that the bowler drags down and Wade pulls for four. But once Finch gets strike, Sundar has him bottom-edging a pull shot for no score, then bowls a little short again and Finch tries to slap over the circle on the off side. Only pops it up to mid-off.

8.14am GMT

1st over: Australia 9-0 (Wade 9, Finch 0) Away we go. Deepak Chahar starts proceedings, a muscular right-armer who swings the ball. Wade likes a fast start, so after two dot balls the left-hander walks across and tries to ramp a boundary, but instead gets a big edge on it over short third man in the circle. Same result. Chahar swings a ball into Wade that he misses, but then drops a touch short and gets pulled for four. The ramp comes out again, and this time goes very square to the deep square leg on the bounce.

7.47am GMT

In fact Finch has recovered and will play tonight. He was present at the toss with Kohli. Wade will keep the opening spot with Finch though, as Short drops down the order and Stoinis misses out. One factor in that decision may be that Short can bowl some wrist spin but Stoinis still can’t bowl with injury. India name an unchanged team from Sunday.

Australia
Aaron Finch *
Matthew Wade +
Steve Smith
Glenn Maxwell
D’Arcy Short
Moises Henriques
Daniel Sams
Sean Abbott
Mitchell Swepson
Andrew Tye
Adam Zampa

7.42am GMT

For the third time out of three in this series, the side winning the toss chooses to chase. Virat Kohli’s team won using this method on Sunday at this ground and will get the chance again tonight.

7.08am GMT

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Here’s the update about England bailing from South Africa.

Related: England to fly home on Thursday after tour pair cleared of Covid infection

7.07am GMT

Two down, one to go. India lost the ODI series in straight sets before winning the third game, and Australia lost the T20 series in straight sets but will try to win the third game tonight. We’re at the Sydney Cricket Ground, it’s been a sunny and windy day in the Harbour City, and we’ll probably get another good sunset over the Members Stand later in the day. The temperature is dropping currently and might keep doing so.

Virat Kohli plays his second-last match for the tour, with only the first Test to come. Matthew Wade will likely be captaining the Aussies again, with Aaron Finch still having trouble with his glute muscle. Second match in charge for Wade. Hopefully he opens the batting again where he put on a show the other night. All of the white-ball games so far have been pretty entertaining, even the ones that didn’t end up as close contests. Lots of firepower, and some wins for the bowlers as well. Stay tuned.

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