Behrendorff destroys India as Australia level series

India had a forgettable outing with both bat and ball as Australia bounced back in the T20 International series with a crushing eight-wicket victory in the second match, in Guwahati, on Tuesday.

- Scorecard

Rookier pacer Jason Behrendorff ripped through the high-profile Indian batting, claiming four for 21, to restrict the home team to a below par 118, at the Baraspara Stadium, which hosted its first international match.

Moises Henriques smashed his way to 62 from 46 balls, adding an unbeaten stand of 109 runs stand off 76 balls for the third wicket with Travis Head, who scored 48 from 34 balls, to fire Australia to a series-levelling win in just 15.3 overs.

The victory was also Australia's first over India in eight T20 Internationals.

The series decider will be played in Hyderabad on Friday.

Henriques and Head took the game away from India after the visitors lost their dangerous openers, David Warner and Aaron Finch, by the third over.

After faltering with the bat, the Indian bowlers put up an ordinary performance, offering too many loose balls to Head and Henriques. The dew also was a factor, the ball not turning as much as it did in the first innings.

The end result was that India's wrist spinners, Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, leaked 75 runs in 7.3 overs.

Kuldeep had an ordinary day; he bowled too many loose deliveries in the middle overs, giving away 46 runs in his four.

Earlier, left-arm pacer Behrendorff, playing only his second international match, ended with dream figures of four for 21 in four overs.

The 27-year-old from Western Australia swung the ball both ways on a helping pitch, with Rohit Sharma (8), Shikhar Dhawan (2) and Virat Kohli (0) among his high-profile scalps.

It was the first international game played at the venue and the packed crowd was in for a shock after Rohit hit two crisp fours in the opening over bowled by Behrendorff.

Behrendorff showed remarkable maturity to bounce back from those two boundaries to trap Rohit plumb in front with an in-swinger.

Kohli departed two balls later after getting a faint inside edge while attempting a flick and the looping ball was caught by the left-arm pacer himself.

Behrendorff then had Manish Pandey caught behind with one that swung away just enough before Dhawan fell to a spectacular running catch by opposition captain David Warner.

His spell of four overs was enough to break the backbone of the Indian batting line-up which was hardly tested in the five-match ODI series.

With India in deep trouble at 27 for four, Kedar Jadhav (27) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (13) tried to get going in the middle overs but neither could break free.

However, Australia were able to tighten the noose around India in the middle overs through Adam Zampa, who picked two for 19 in four overs.

He had a charging Dhoni stumped with a perfect leg-spinner before finding Jadhav's stumps to leave India in more trouble at 67 for six.

Hardik Pandya (25) hit a cracking six over midwicket, much to the entertainment of the home crowd, but it was not enough to take India to a competitive total.