Chasing a modest 126, Australia crossed the finish line with 40 balls to spare, thanks to a strong start from Travis Head (28) and Marsh, whose fluent strokeplay set the tone early.
Skipper Suryakumar Yadav joined Gill and immediately set the tone, launching a trademark flick over deep backward square leg, his 150th six in T20 internationals, to get off the mark in style.
India had earlier posted 264/9 after being inserted to bat in testing morning conditions, with Rohit Sharma making 73, Shreyas Iyer hitting 61 and Axar Patel chipping in with 44.
India started strongly, controlling possession and dictating the tempo in the opening quarter. Australia had an early chance, but goalkeeper Prince Deep Singh pulled off a fine save to keep the scores level.
“If you see Kranti Gaud bowling and today Sree Charani against Australia, against top quality players, she ended up giving what, 40 odd runs in her 10 overs and picked up those important wickets. I think they have been exceptional, both of them,” he said.
Jasprit Bumrah’s stocks rose exponentially ever since he arrived on Australian shores this summer, with the pace ace leading India to a commanding win in the Border-Gavaskar series opener in Perth, before leaving his mark in Adelaide and Brisbane.
India’s top order batting woes continued to haunt them as the visitors witnessed another batting collapse that left them reeling at 51 for 4, 394 runs adrift of Australia at stumps, on what had been a stop-start day of Test cricket, featuring as many as eight stoppages for rain at the Gabba on Monday.
Incessant rains played spoilsport on Day 1 of the third round of the tussle for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy as only 13.2 overs could be bowled with Australia reaching 28/0 after being sent in on a Gabba wicket, still sporting a tinge of green and under overcast conditions.
After a recent horror run with the bat in the first innings of Test matches over the past three months, India will be keen to arrest the trend when they take on Australia in the third of the five-match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Brisbane on Saturday.
The Border-Gavaskar series is tantalisingly poised at 1-1 with both India and Australia having shown the promise and flaws to head into the fabled Gabba for the third Test, starting in Brisbane from Saturday.
