Maxwell's cyclone batting of 104* overshadows Gaikwad's 123* to keep Australia alive in the series

 India vs. Australia 3rd T20I: Ruturaj Gaikwad hit a 123* to lead India to a commanding 222 in Guwahati, but Glenn Maxwell's 104 not-out rocked the hosts as Australia pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind win to keep the T20I series alive at 2-1.

Earlier, Australian captain Matthew Wade won the toss and invited India to bat first. Australia kept the Indian top order in complete control in the beginning and took an early wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal. But then Ruturaj Gaikwad and Surya Kumar Yadav kept the hope alive for India to take India to a good score.

On the other side when Australia came to bat, they had held up with the asking rate for the majority of the innings. Maxwell and Matthew Wade feasted in dewy conditions, striking the boundary at will even when Australia needed 43 off 12 balls, 21 off six balls, and two off the last delivery when it came down to Axar Patel's 19th and Prasidh's 20th. Maxwell smashed the final four balls for 6, 4, 4, 4 to hush the home crowd. Mathew Wade and Glenn Maxwell joined 91 runs off 40 balls to lead Australia to victory.

Maxwell came in in the sixth over when the Australian team was struggling to score at 66 for 2 after Avesh Khan had ended Travis Head's boundary-laden 35 in 18 balls. He took a liking to Prasidh right on, smashing two sixes and a four in the eighth over to speed away to 25 in ten overs. However, Ravi Bishnoi's expulsion of Josh Inglis and Axar's dismissal of Marcus Stoinis slowed Australia's run rate.

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When Australia was chasing, 88 off 39 in difficult bowling circumstances was always a game-changer. Maxwell would have known this, having given up 30 in India's penultimate over. On the 16th over, he thumped Avesh for six and four, then launched back-to-back sixes against Arshdeep on the 17th over.

Prasidh's 18th over-restored Australia's pressure, but an expensive 19th over from Axar, culminating in a mistake from Ishan Kishan behind the stumps, reduced the equation to 21 off six balls. Wade and Maxwell jumped all over Prasidh, whose preparations were thwarted by India's poor over rate, which forced him to bowl with an extra fielder in the 30-yard circle. Prasidh went short, full and wide, and short and wide across the over, and none of it seemed to matter, especially to Maxwell. Maxwell was hitting boundaries effortlessly, especially in the last overs of the game.

Once Australia decided to bowl, Jason Behrendroff impressed with 17 dots in his four-over performance of 1 for 12. However, Australia leaked 210 runs in their next 16 overs, including 64 runs in four overs from Aaron Hardie, Australia's joint-most expensive stint in T20Is.

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Suryakumar Yadav was on a run-a-ball 22 when Suryakumar Yadav was caught for 39 in the 11th over, with India's total at 81 for 3. After Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ishan Kishan fell cheaply, Australia had an opportunity to stop the run flow began by Suryakumar, but Hardie and Tanveer Sangha allowed Gaikwad to alter gears with some careless bowling. When they dropped it short, Gaikwad pulled them confidently, and the full ones were dispatched in the arc between long-on and deep extra-cover. This scoring burst let him reach his half-century in 32 balls.

The floodgates really opened in the final three overs, with India adding 67 to their total. In the 18th over, Gaikwad hauled Hardie for three sixes and a four, before Nathan Ellis pulled things back significantly with a 12-run 19th. Wade opted for Maxwell's off-spin for the 20th over, and Gaikwad took full advantage of the favorable match-up, smashing three sixes and two fours in a 30-run over that propelled India to a commanding 222. Along the way, he scored a century off 52 balls and concluded with a score of 123 off 57.

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