It resulted in Ashwin taking 3-41 in seven overs and triggering an Australian collapse, while Jadeja took 3-42 in 5.2 overs. Sean Abbott made 54 and had a stand of 77 off 44 balls with Josh Hazlewood for the ninth wicket before the duo were dismissed in three balls as Australia were all out for 217 in 28.2 overs, also their fifth straight loss in the format.

Matthew Short began Australia’s chase by taking two boundaries off Mohammed Shami via drive and flick. But Krishna, playing in place of a rested Jasprit Bumrah, took Short out by extracting a big edge on his attempted slice and the ball flew to third man.

On the very next ball, Prasidh got some away movement and stand-in captain Steven Smith threw his hands at it, giving first slip a catch above his head. David Warner (26 not out) and Marnus Labuschagne (17 not out) led Australia’s recovery by hitting eight boundaries while adding 47 off 45 balls for the third wicket till rain arrived, forcing players to go off the field.

Post that, with revised target in hand, Warner and Labuschagne hit four more boundaries, till Ashwin turned the game on its head. Ashwin’s carrom ball on a pitch giving spinners turn – crashing into Labuschagne’s off-stump when the batter played for an off-break.

Warner brought out the ploy to bat right-handed against Ashwin, but the carrom ball did the trick again, as he fell over in an attempt to reverse-sweep and was trapped lbw in front of stumps, though replays showed a clear bottom edge. Josh Inglis was next to be trapped lbw by Ashwin while trying to sweep off him.

Australia continued to fall like nine pins as Alex Carey and Adam Zampa were cleaned up by Jadeja while Cameron Green failed to put his bat down in time, and was run-out. Abbott and Hazlewood tried delaying the inevitable by hitting 13 boundaries in their entertaining ninth wicket stand, till the duo fell in quick succession as India put an end to the fun in a game where they got a lot of clarity in the run-up to the World Cup.

Video | DC leads as thousands join Tiranga yatra in Anantnag

Related Stories