Wrap-up: That’s it from us for tonight. The series stays alive thanks to a man-of-the-match effort from Behrendorff. The final match is on Friday in Warner’s backyard - Hyderabad. Promises to be an exciting game, that. Join us then. Goodnight!
Post-match reaction: It’s taken 5 ODIs and 2 T20Is to finally see a real *Australian* performance on this tour. Behrendorff was unplayable almost with the new ball, taking 4 wickets in a 4-over burst. Zampa backed him up in the middle overs and India never looked like posting a challenging total. The only period that India even had a sniff was when Warner and Finch fell early but Henriques and Head made sure it was nothing more than a sniff.
END OF THE MATCH, Australia win by 8 wickets to level series 1-1: “It’s literally been Australia’s match from the very first over,” says Harsha Bhogle on air and it’s tough to argue there. The Aussies brush aside India by 8 wickets and 27 balls remaining. Henriques fittingly finishes with a smashing straight drive past Chahal and the umpire.
After 14 overs, Australia 114/2: BOOM! And that’s about it. Another massive over for the men in yellow. 17 runs! Henriques brings up his 50 with back-to-back sixes. First over long off, followed by one over long on. Brutal on Kuldeep. Five runs needed.
After 14 overs, Australia 97/2: Easy does it for Australia now. 4 runs from Kuldeep’s over, 5 from Chahal’s. As the Indian spinners keep wiping the ball to get some grip, Australia have dug their talons deep into this one.
After 12 overs, Australia 88/2: Spinners have been India’s strength throughout the last couple of series but they have been taken apart from tonight. Chahal concedes 10 in his over, after a huge hit by Head for six in that over. Aussies are coasting.
After 11 overs, Australia 78/2: Not Kuldeep’s day. 9 from that over, two powerful hits from Head and Henriques. They are sharing the load of this run chase between them beautifully.
After 10 overs, Australia 67/2: Chahal into the attack and a good over is spoiled by a boundary off the last ball. Delicious late cut by Henriques despite the presence of the first slip. Match has slipped away from India quickly here. 50-plus partnership between the two.
After 9 overs, Australia 61/2: And the game has definitely swung towards Australia. More short balls from Pandya now and Henriques and Head punish him with a boundary each. 11 run from that over.
After 8 overs, Australia 50/2: Two contrasting overs for India post powerplay. Pandya with a fine over, conceding just 2. And then the Aussies take the attack to Kuldeep. First Henriques pulls one for six and then Head finishes with a pull for 4. 14 from it, and 50 up for Australia. The crowd has been silenced again.
End of powerplay, Australia 34/2: What an intriguing match this is turning into. After that over by Bhuvi where Henriques struggled, he majestically pulls Bumrah over fine leg for six. And oh, by the way. There was a massive caught behind appeal in the previous over that got Kohli very excited but Dhoni wasn’t sure – turns out there was an edge!
5th over, Australia 25/2: Fantastic over from Bhuvi – he keeps Henriques pegged back on the crease with a nagging length around off stump. Just a single off the last ball. Virat Kohli is egging the crowd on and they are right behind the team.
4th over, Australia 24/2: Bumrah won’t be happy with that over. Starts with the most delightful of straight drives by Travis Head for 4. Bumrah bowls a peach off the fifth ball, but follows that up with one on the pads from around the wicket - races to the boundary for 4.
3rd over, Australia 14/2: Well, well. We have a game on our hands! Bhuvi gets Finch. Kohli takes the catch again, roars again. The crowd roars back with him. That was nothing shot from Finch, hits a short ball to Kohli at cover.
2nd over, Australia 12/1: The over starts badly and ends well for India. Finch dispatches a short ball to square leg for 4 and off the fourth ball, Warner tries to pull Bumrah over midwicket, ends up edging it to Kohli at cover who lets out a massive roar. Warner’s wicket is huge for India, no doubt.
1st over, Australia 6/0: Bhuvneshwar starts off with a wide and there’s a definite hint of swing. Finch gets one past cover for three. Warner finishes the over with a couple. Pandey with a great stop at point to make it a decent over for India.
Australia’s chase underway: 119 is not really a daunting target, a little help in the pitch notwithstanding. Early wickets – that’s what Kohli will want.
After 20 overs, India 118 all out: Two wickets in the final over and India fall 2 runs short of 120. With Kuldeep, Bumrah and Chahal left, it was a question of when and not if India will be all out. First Bumrah is run out trying to steal a leg bye and off the last ball Kuldeep skies Coulter-Nile and Paine takes an easy catch. India do not have enough runs, one thinks.
After 19 overs, India 114/8: Bumrah’s giving himself a few extra runs to defend – a wild swing, outside edge, goes between keeper and slip for a four. Couple of more singles after that. One over to go, India trying to reach 120.
WICKET: And that’s the one India did not want to lose right now. Pandya was looking to get into the mood, starting to middle the ball well but Stoinis foxes him with a full, slower delivery. Pandya swings at it, but can only find long off – Dan Christian takes a good low catch. An useful cameo by Pandya (25 off 23), but 130 seems improbable now. After 18 overs, India 104/8.
After 17 overs, India 101/7: A quiet 16th over by Stoinis followed by a big-(ish) over that India badly wanted. AJ Tye is the one Pandya targets. First ball, a majestic-looking pull shot over midwicket for six. Some sensible rotation of strike after that, meaning 11 came from that over and the 100 up for India.
After 15 overs, India 85/7: Something to cheer for India in that 15th over. 8 runs from Andrew Tye. After just 3 from the first five, he bowls a high full toss (so high that it bounced over Kuldeep’s head) and the resulting free hit went for four through third man. On the flip side, there’s dew already. And that’s good news for Australia. Zampa earlier finished his spell with 4-0-19-2, a great return.
WICKET: And another one gone. Nathan Coulter-Nile returns to the attack with the wicket of Bhuvneshwar. A short ball and Bhuvi guides it harmlessly to third man for a simple catch. Pandya running out of partners. India 71/7 after 13 overs.
WICKET: Zampa is delighted! Kedar Jadhav has played a pretty ordinary shot. A wild slog, an attempted heave straight down the ground – plays all over that googly and he’s clean bowled. With 5 down, in the 12th over, was that necessary? Just 2 runs in that over and a wicket. India 69/6 after 12 overs.
10th over, India 60/5: Zampa strikes! A dream legspinner’s dismissal. Twice earlier in the over, Dhoni stepped out – hitting a four once, avoiding getting stumped the other. But this time, it’s a peach. Dhoni is beaten all ends up, Tim Paine makes no mistake.
After 9 overs, India 54/4: A couple of quite overs. (For us, especially after all those furious typing at the start of the match.) Zampa and Stoinis bowling now for Aussies. Zamapa with a confident start, giving the ball good flight, given the situation this match is in. Stoinis from the other end – the man who went to Australia after the ODIs and returned again for this match – starts off with a gift down the leg side to Kedar Jadhav, glanced for 4. Seven from that over.
End of Behrendorff’s dream spell: Not surprisingly, the Perth quick finishes his four overs on the trot and finishes with 4/21. A big IPL contract, anyone? India 43/4 after 7 overs.
End of powerplay, India 38/4: Time for a breather, perhaps? Seven runs from AJ Tye’s first over as Kedar continues to cut with power – one boundary in that over. Dhoni has started in his typical hit-in-the-gap-run-like-mad fashion.
After 5th over, India 31/4: WE ARE NOT GETTING A MOMENT TO BREATHE! What a start this is. Behrendorff gets his fourth and this one he owes to his captain David Warner. Dhawan steps down and lofts over mid-off, gets it high on the bat. Warner keeps back-pedalling and takes a stunning high catch. Dhoni walks out trying to avert a disaster.
After 4th over, India 27/3: Goodness, what a start in Guwahati. Kedar Jadhav, amid all the carnage, has played a shot and a half for a six over square leg. A short arm jab off Coulter-Nile and it’s flown all the way.
Remember the name: Jason Behrendorff!
3rd over, India 16/3: Behrendorff on fire!!! (Excuse the exclamation marks, but this is quite the start!) Manish Pandey gets a four off the first ball and is gone the next. Lovely swing bowling this, short of good length outside off and shapes away ever so slightly and gets the outside edge. This is stunning.
After 2 overs, India 12/2: An event-less over from Nathan Coulter-Nile compared to the first. Just four runs off it. Manish Pandey is the new man in.
After 1 over, India 8/2: What a start to this match! An over of two halves. The newcomer Behrendorff starts off with two ordinary balls in his first three - Rohit gets two boundaries. And then shades of Amir – brings one back sharply, as Rohit is stuck on the crease. Plumb in front. Last ball of the over, Kohli leans in to play a flick but it takes an inside edge and loops back to the bowler. Hangs around for some reason to consider a review, strangely.
07:00 pm: Jason Beherendorff (bowled just one over in his debut) with the ball, Rohit and Dhawan walk out to the middle. Play!
06:55 pm: The teams are out for the national anthem, minutes away from the start of the second T20I. Looks like quite a crowd has gathered. Promises to be wonderful atmosphere for cricket. Questions is: Can the Aussies show up?
06:45 pm: It’s a must-win game for Australia and Warner would be happy to be chasing in a stadium where the dew and rain could play significant roles. Kohli said he would have bowled first as well.
India enjoy an excellent head-to-head record against the visitors, having won 10 and lost four out of the 14 matches played. With Saturday’s win, the hosts have won seven matches in a row, and they have not lost to Australia in T20I match since September 28, 2012. Unraveling the mystery of India’s wrist spin duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal – who have shared 16 wickets between them in six matches – will go a long way in boosting Australia’s chances.
06:35 pm: TOSS TIME. David Warner calls it right and India will be batting first.
Team news: One change for Australia as Marcus Stoinis comes back in place of Dan Chiristian, no changes for India.
06:30 pm: It’s the first match in this brand new ACA Stadium in Guwahati and the fans must be thrilled to see their heroes in action – rain over the last few days notwithstanding. It was even raining earlier today but it’s been clear for the past hour or so and we are set for a start on time! The captains are out of the toss...
06:25 pm: Hello and welcome to the live blog of the second T20I between India and Australia. It’s a big occasion for the football-crazy Guwahati as the Indian juggernaut rolls into town right in the midst of the Fifa U-17 World Cup.