Sydney: India sealed the T20 International series against Australia with a game to spare after a swashbuckling Hardik Pandya finished what Shikhar Dhawan had set out to achieve with a scintillating 36-ball 52 in the second and penultimate match here on Sunday.
The visitors thus avenged their 1-2 ODI series loss, chasing down a challenging 195-run target set by the home side. They won the opener in Canberra by 11 runs on Friday.
This was India's 10th successive win away from home in T20 Internationals. It also marks the first time since 2016 that India have managed to beat Australia in a T20I series home or away.
Shikhar Dhawan's 52 and captain Virat Kohli's 40 along with a 22-ball 30 from K.L. Rahul helped India bring the equation down to 14 runs needed off the last over in their chase of a target of 195.
Needing 25 of the final 12 balls after fetching 12 in the 18th over, Pandya brought the equation down to 14 in the last over with two fours. The all-rounder then hit two sixes to seal the match in India's favour and also claim the player of the match honours.
Pandya remained unconquered on 42 off 22 balls.He has been declared as 'Man of the Match'.
Sams, Tye, Mitchell Swepson and Adam Zampa got a wicket each as Australia bowled as many as seven bowlers.
Earlier, Matthew Wade, who was standing in as Australia's captain and opening batsman in place of the injured Aaron Finch, scored 58 off 32 balls as Australia scored 194/5. Steve Smith scored 46 off 38 while Glenn Maxwell, Moises Henriques and Marcus Stoinis chipped in from the lower order to take Australia close to the 200-run mark.
For the visitors, T Natarajan finished with fine figures of 2/20 in his four-over spell. Australia accumulated 62 runs in the last five overs after a few tight middle overs.
Meanwhile, Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal has equalled fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah's record for picking the most number of wickets for India in men's T20 Internationals.
Chahal returned with figures of 1/51 in his four overs during the match and in the process he took his overall T20I wicket tally to 59.
While Bumrah has taken 50 matches to scalp 59 wickets, Chahal has taken 44 games to pick the same number of wickets, with best figures of 6/25.
(With inputs from agencies)