Australia VS India Dettol T20 Series 
3rd Match Played at SCG on 8th December 2020
Australia 186/5 (MS Wade 80, Maxwell 54, Smith 24, Washington Sundar 2/34) beat India 174/7 (Virat 85, S Dhawan 28, MJ Swepson 3/23) by 12 Runs. 
Player Of The Match: Mitchell Swepson. 
Player Of The Series: Hardik Pandya 

Australia won ODI series 2-1 winning the first two and losing the third. India on the other hand won the T20 series winning the first two and losing the third. 

Now teams will lock horn for the all-important Border Gavaskar Test series, which is also part of ICC world test championship. There is very little to choose between the two evenly matched top dogs of world cricket. 

With India wrapping up the T20 series winning the first two matches the only interest was whether they can earn brown washing Aussies? But Australia winning by 12 runs salvaged pride. India did not the psychological advantage before the test series. 

Put into bat Australia scored competitive score of 186/5 yet again. Aaron Flinch was back in business but Wade was also retained as opening partner. Flinch failed but Wade played another aggressive innings of 80 spearheading the Aussie onslaught. India opting to rest Sami and Bumra played their second-string pacers Chahar and Natarajan could not restrict Wade and Maxwell getting up to challenging score of 186. Maxwell scoring 54 in 36 deliveries again proved his rediscovered form as x-factor of Australia in white ball cricket. 

Australia also rested Cummins, Hazzlewood and Starc had their second-choice pace attack. The front-line pacers were kept fresh for the test series. But playing two leg spinners Zampa and Swepson did the trick. Other than irrestible Virat Kohli (85) none could stay longer at the wicket like the first two matches to earn India a clean sweep. Swepson taking 3/23 earned the player of the match. Hardik Pandya for his great batting efforts even with his sore back won the player of the series. Swepson is the discovery of the series for Australia. 

India has some worries. Other than Kohli none in their top order appears consistent. Even Pujara and Rahane in another match against Australia A failed to impress. Rohit has not joined.  Kohli would only appear in the day night pink ball test and then leave for staying beside his wife for the birth of their first child. Against very potent Australia attack Indian batting may suffer. Australian front line pace attack of Sami and Bumrah has not yet found their form. 

BDST: 1916 HRS, DEC 08, 2020
SMS