Glenn Maxwell brought back glimpses of that disheartening CWC final loss for the supports of the Indian team in Guwahati as he saw Australia over the line in the third T20 match of the series.
Maxwell's brilliant century to keep Australia in the five-match series, which is now poised at 2-1, in a last ball thriller overshadowed a superb Ruturaj Gaikwad ton earlier for India in the third T20 in Guwahati.
Having won the toss, Australia had elected to bowl first. The decision seemed to pay off as the promising Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed early by Jason Behrendorff, who ended up being the most economical bowler for Australia on the night.
At the other end, Ruturaj Gaikwad held his ground as Australia piled the pressure on the home side by taking the wicket of Ishan Kishan, who went without scoring. This brought skipper Suryakumar Yadav to the crease.
The Indian skipper's hard-hitting gave the opportunity to Gaikwad at the other end to settle down and play his shots. Aaron Hardie, who went 64 runs off his four overs, dismissed Suryakumar who scored 39 runs off 29 deliveries and was looking dangerous.
From there on, Gaikwad opened up and started hitting the ball all over the park. He went on to score a brilliant century, scoring 123 runs in just 57 deliveries helping India to post a mammoth total of 222 in their 20 overs.
Coming in to bat, Travis Head and Aaron Hardie gave Australia a good start and put together 47 runs in four overs before Hardie was dismissed by Arshdeep Singh. Two quick wickets of Josh Inglis and Head helped India to get a grip on the match.
By the time Maxwell settled down, Australia had lost both Marcus Stoinis and Tim David. However, that did not phase him as he powered on to single-handedly take Australia over the line.
Australia won the match by five wickets to keep their hopes alive in the series. The next match will be played in Raipur on December 1.
