2nd T20I between India, Australia abandoned due to rain

Melbourne, Nov. 23 (IANS): The second Twenty20 International of the three-match rubber between India and Australia was called off due to consistent rain at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here on Friday.

Australia were 132/7 in 19 overs when rain started playing spoilsport and the match was stopped and the contest was reduced to 19 overs per side with India receiving a revised target of 137 runs based on the Duckworth-Lewis (D/L) method.

However, just when the players were about to enter the field, rains returned and when it stopped, the target for India was revised to 90 runs from 11 overs.

Later, another downpour led to the cancellation of the match.

The hosts currently lead the series 1-0.

Earlier, it seemed the visiting bowlers have learnt from their mistakes they committed in the previous game as the hosts were once tottering at 101/7 in 16 overs. However, pacer K Khaleel Ahmed was clobbered for 19 runs in the 18th over as Australia managed to reach a respectable total.

Pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2/20 from his three overs, while Khaleel also scalped a couple of wickets, but leaked 39 runs from four overs.

Put in to bat, Australia kept on receiving jolts at regular intervals after a poor start. Bhuvneshwar gave an early blow to the hosts by dismissing Aaron Finch on his very second ball. The Aussie opener departed on a duck with the hosts’ scorecard reading 1/1.

Just when it looked Australia were recovering, Khaleel sent back Chris Lynn (13) making the scoreline read 27/2. With the addition of eight runs in Australia’s scorecard, Khaleel struck again to dismiss opener D Arcy Short (14) in the sixth over.

Last match hero Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis failed to replicate their show and contributed 19 and four runs respectively as Australia were reeling at 62/5 in 11 overs.

Their dismissal saw Ben McDermott (32) in the middle but things worsened for Australia as chinaman Kuldeep Yadav sent back Alex Carey (4), while Bhuvneshwar picked his second, dismissing Nathan Coulter-Nile, who showed some fireworks with a nine-ball 18.

With Australia at 101/7, McDermott and Andrew Tye (12) showed some resistence, adding 31 runs for the eighth wicket and the duo also hammered young Khaleel for 19 runs in the 18th over before rain stopped play.

Brief score: Australia 132/7 in 19 overs (Ben McDermott 32, Glenn Maxwell 19; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2/20) vs India