Rohit Sharma

Sharma was also happy the players took their chances and were "brave" to go after the opportunities that came their way in the batting and bowling departments. With the victory, India also achieved a unique record of clinching their 21st T20I win in a calendar year -- the most ever recorded by a team in men's T20Is. Pakistan had held the record until now with 20 T20I wins in 2021.

Rohit Sharma blasted a scintillating unbeaten 46 off 20 deliveries as India chased a target of 91 off eight overs, helping his side reach 92/4 with four balls to spare and helped the home side level the three-match series 1-1 ahead of Sunday's final encounter at Hyderabad. On a pitch that was two-paced and against a world-class bowling attack that included the likes of Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Sean Abbott and Adam Zampa and conditions that were not easy to bat in, Sharma came out with an aggressive intent and took control of the match easily.

Patel's two overs, one of which was bowled in the powerplay, went for only 13 runs. He kept things tight while ratting the stumps of Glenn Maxwell and Tim David and also bowled four dot balls to Matthew Wade, who had two unsuccessful tries at reverse sweeping him before getting a boundary on third attempt.

In a truncated eight-overs-a-side match, Rohit Sharma slammed a 20-ball 46, while chasing Australia's 90/5 as India won by six wickets with four balls to spare. Rohit started the fireworks as he blasted Josh Hazelwood for back-to-back sixes in the first over -- the second one a superb effort as he pulled it over the deep square boundary when the bowler chased him to the leg side.

Rohit, the leading run-scorer in T20Is, went past New Zealand opener Martin Guptill's tally of sixes to go to the top of the six hitters' chart in T20Is. The India captain, who smashed two sixes in the first over from Josh Hazlewood in a run chase of 91 in eight overs, now has 176 sixes to his name in this format. Guptill with 172 sixes and Chris Gayle with 124 sixes follow him.

Rohit Sharma said, "It's just about going in and executing it. If you see our batting style in Asia Cup, we posted around 170 in almost every game. The par, I mean except for that one game against Sri Lanka, around 173, where we failed to defend. You saw our game games against Pakistan as well. It went down to the wire with last-over finishes. So it could have gone either way. So we were not really worried about what happened there."

Umesh last played a T20I match for India in February 2019, and earned a recall in the shortest format of the game after almost two and a half years based on his good IPL showing for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2022, becoming an impactful presence with the new ball. In IPL 2022, Umesh picked 16 wickets for Kolkata Knight Riders at an average of 21.18 and economy rate of 7.06. In Middlesex's Royal London One-Day Cup campaign, he picked 16 wickets at an average of 20.25 and economy rate of 5.17.

When India played in last year's T20 World Cup in the UAE, Ishan Kishan was the back-up opening option. But with him missing the bus for this year's T20 World Cup, Kohli is now being seen as a third opener, especially after he hit an unbeaten 122 off just 61 balls, laced with 12 fours and six sixes, at a strike-rate of 200 against Afghanistan in India's last Super Four match of Asia Cup 2022.

Rohit Sharma, who had taken up T20I captaincy after Kohli stepped down, has won 31 matches in the 37 outing while Virat Kohli achieved 30 wins in 50 T20I matches. Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has helped India win 41 T20I matches under his captaincy from 72 matches, is still on top of the list.

Since last year's World Cup, when Rohit has been the full-time captain and Rahul Dravid as the head coach, India have won six of their seven bilateral T20I series, barring the one against South Africa, which was shared 2-2 after rain had washed out the decider in Bengaluru in June.