Mitchell Marsh slammed a brisk 46 after Josh Hazlewood took 3-13 as Australia cruised past India by four wickets to win the second Twenty20 international on Friday.
Sent in at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground, India slumped to 125 all out off 18.4 overs with an electric spell by Hazlewood doing the early damage.
Only Abhishek Sharma (68) and Harshit Rana (35) made it into double figures.
Marsh led the reply with 46 off 26 deliveries, putting on 51 with Travis Head (28 off 15) for the opening wicket, with the hosts winning with 40 balls remaining.
“It was a good toss to win, bit of moisture and Josh is a great bowler when there’s something in it,” said skipper Marsh. “We wanted to take a couple of wickets early.
“I was a bit nervous but got going in the end,” he added of his batting.
“Head took the pressure off. Should be a good three games to come.”
Along with Hazlewood, Xavier Bartlett and Nathan Ellis chipped in with two wickets each.
The win gave Australia a 1-0 lead in the five-match series after the opening game in Canberra was a washout. The third game is in Hobart on Sunday.
“The way he (Hazlewood) bowled in the powerplay, if you’re four down in the powerplay it’s difficult to recover from that,” said India captain Suryakumar Yadav, whose side slumped to 40-4 after the six-over powerplay.
“Abhishek has been doing this for quite some time now,” he added of the Indian opener.
“He knows his game and his identity and he is not changing it anymore and hopefully he sticks to it and plays many more knocks like this for us.
“I think we need to do what we did in the first game,” Yadav said of the next clash in Hobart. “Bat well when batting first and then come out and defend.”
A minute’s silence was held ahead of the game to mourn 17-year-old Australian Ben Austin who died after being hit by a ball in the nets before a local game in Melbourne on Thursday.
