India avenge ODI loss with 3-0 T20 whitewash

Batting second, India were off to a flying start. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan took a liking to the bounce and pace of Shaun Tait, and were primarily dealing in boundaries. Dhawan hit Tait for two fours and a six in three consecutive deliveries of the third over, and took India's total to 42 runs in just three overs.

Watson brought on his spinner Boyce in order to control the flow of runs, and the 26-year-old did so with a disciplined spell of two overs. India scored 26 runs in that period of four overs, before Watson brought back Tait and Boland in search of a wicket. The extra pace of the fast bowlers were only helping the Indian batsmen in their stroke play, and Rohit Sharma brought up his half century in the 12th over. He also became only the third Indian batsman to make 1,000 runs in this format of the game.

Kohli took on Boyce, who was Australia's best bowler in the game, in his last over and completed his half century - his third in a row. However, Boyce did have the last laugh, as he dismissed the danger man for 50, with the second last ball of his spell. The Indian star charged down the pitch, and he missed the ball, which deflected off his pads and rolled on to his stumps.

After the departure of Kohli and Sharma, Raina tried his best to preserve India's momentum, despite Yuvraj Singh's struggle at the other end. The left-hander hit two consecutive boundaries off Tye at the end of the 18th over, which gave India a target of 22 runs off the last two overs – and with seven wickets in hands, they were the favorites at this point.

India won the match by seven wickets, and with it the series 3-0. India are now new World No.1 in ICC T20 rankings and the men in blue have now further confirmed their status as the favorites in the upcoming T20 World Cup with this performance.

Earlier today, Australia won the toss and opted to bat first on a track which looked to be a belter of a pitch. Shane Watson, who made his T20 captaincy debut in this game, made five changes to the side which lost in the 2nd T20 game at Melbourne on Friday – Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Cameron Bancroft, Cameron Boyce and Shaun Tait were drafted into the team. India, on the other hand, fielded an unchanged lineup.

After Khawaja's dismissal, Watson began to counter-attack. He and Shaun Marsh brought up Australia's 50 in the sixth over, and Dhoni was quick to bring the spinners into action. The move paid dividend, as Ravichandran Ashwin dismissed Marsh in his first over. The southpaw went for a heave over mid-wicket, but Ashwin's delivery went through his defence and dislodged the bails.

In the first two T20s, Australia had lost their way after the sixth over of the innings as they failed to dominate the spinners, and early signs hinted that the trend would continue today. Yuvraj Singh came into action in the seventh over, and he sent Glenn Maxwell back to the pavilion, once again.

Watson continued to dominate at the other end though, ably supported by Travis Head. The 22-year-old peppered the mid-wicket boundary and took Yuvraj out of the attack, while Watson made full use of Hardik Pandya's undisciplined bowling. The Aussie skipper was also let off the hook when Virat Kohli dropped his catch at the cover boundary in the 13th over. Watson was batting at 56, when he hit a lifted drive towards cover off Pandya, Kohli had to dive forward to take the catch, but could not hold on to the ball as he hit the ground. That miss proved to be extremely costly, considering the destruction Watson brought forth after this.

The duo went on to have a partnership of 93 runs in just 47 balls, before Jadeja fired in a yorker in the last ball of the 17th over to knockout the middle stump of Travis Head. But Watson had already taken the left arm spinner to the cleaners in that over, before that dismissal, to complete his century – and become only the second Australian to do so.

Here are the Twitter Reactions after India beat Australia 3-0 in the T20I Series