Australia vs India 2nd T20I called off due to rain

Images from the second T20 International between Australia and India in Melbourne on Friday.

• Scorecard

The second T20 International between India and Australia was called off due to rain at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

Put into bat, Australia had made 132 for seven in the 19th over before rain interrupted play.

The match was then reduced to 19 overs with India set a Duckworth-Lewis revised target of 137 from 19 overs but further rain saw the target being revised twice to 90 in 11 overs and 46 in five overs.

But with rain showing no signs of stopping, the match was eventually abandoned.

Earlier, India put up a much improved effort with the ball, reducing Australia to 132 for seven in 19 overs before intermittent rain delayed the start of their chase.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-20) and Khaleel Ahmed (2-39) shared four wickets to rock the Australian top-order and reduce them to 41 for four at one stage.

The weather interrupted a few times and the revised target for India was 90 in 11 overs as per the Duckworth-Lewis calculations but just when the players walked out to the middle to resume the game, it started to rain again.

This was after India won the toss and opted to bowl. The visitors went in with an unchanged side while Australia made one change, bringing in Nathan Coulter-Nile for Billy Stanlake who picked up an ankle niggle during warm-up.

Bhuvneshwar struck with his second delivery, dismissing Aaron Finch (0) caught behind. From there onwards, India exerted themselves on the field and there was never any let up.

But there were hiccups. The swing bowler should have had at least a couple more wickets, but was twice unlucky in the third over.

First, Rishabh Pant spilled a difficult diving catch behind the wickets with D'Arcy Short (14) getting a lifeline. Two balls later, Chris Lynn (13), on nought, should have been caught at fine leg, only for Jasprit Bumrah to spill it over the rope and for a six after he misjudged the catch.

Khaleel struck in the fourth over and pegged Australia back as Lynn was caught in the deep going for another big one. Two overs later, he bowled Short off an inside edge as India's missed chances didn't cost them too much.

The longer boundaries further aided India as Bumrah had Marcus Stoinis (4) caught in the deep in the seventh over to put the hosts under more pressure.

Glenn Maxwell (19) and Ben McDermott (32 not out) added 21 runs for the fifth wicket to stem the rot before Krunal Pandya struck to remove dangerman Maxwell. The spinner found some grip and a hint of turn as Maxwell was bowled in the 11th over.

Kuldeep Yadav too made his presence felt, chipping in with Alex Carey's (4) dismissal as Australia continued to struggle with the bat.

The hosts somehow managed to cross the 100-mark in the 16th over, thanks to a 27-run partnership between Nathan Coulter-Nile (18) and McDermott.

Coulter-Nile hit two sixes and a four during his nine-ball stay, as McDermott held one end together, providing a little impetus to the innings before rain halted proceedings.

• INDIA'S TOUR OF AUSTRALIA, 2018-19