McGrath the hero as Aussies seal series in thriller

Australia have survived a tremendous scare from India to claim a thrilling four-wicket win in the second CommBank T20I on the Gold Coast, handing the hosts victory in this multi-format series with a match to spare.

After India won the third ODI in Mackay, then dominated both the drawn one-off Test and the washed-out first T20I at Metricon Stadium, the gap between the sides looked to be quickly closing.

But a disastrous performance with the bat that was saved only by some spectacular late hitting from Pooja Vastrakar left Harmanpreet Kaur's side with the unwelcome task of defending their total of 9-118 against the world champions.

As has been the case throughout this series however, India fought to the bitter end, Australia getting home with just five balls to spare courtesy of an unbeaten 42 from South Australian Tahlia McGrath, who has enjoyed a breakout series with the bat.

In her second game back from injury, pace ace Tayla Vlaeminck did the early damage after Meg Lanning again won the toss and chose to bowl, dismissing both India openers, and it wasn't until the fifth over that the visitors found the boundary via consecutive fours behind square from Harmanpreet Kaur.

In the next over, Sophie Molineux removed Jemimah Rodrigues and it was left to captain Kaur to attempt to put India back on track. Briefly, it appeared she might do exactly that, the right-hander hitting Ellyse Perry for three fours in four deliveries to threaten a counter.

A canny bowling change from Lanning to introduce Georgia Wareham then paid dividends, as Kaur advanced to the leg-spinner and was stumped by Alyssa Healy.

From there the Indians stumbled to 9-81 after 17 overs, and the match looked set to follow a predictable one-sided path.

But Pooja Vastrakar (37no) had other ideas. After narrowly beating batting partner Deepti Sharma to the non-striker's end to survive a disastrous mix-up, Vastrakar teed off, clattering 30 from the final three overs to again keep India fighting in this series.

Having not been sighted in the series before tonight, Shikha Pandey then produced a delivery that will be hard to beat for the best of the summer; what seemed an innocuous ball on a length outside off stump then deviated wickedly to castle an unsuspecting Healy.

Just as her counterpart had done, Lanning (15) then steadied proceedings, the classy right-hander as she shared a sensible 31-run stand with Beth Mooney.

But when left-arm finger spinner Rajeshwari Gayakwad tempted Lanning down the track and had the Australian caught behind, the match took another compelling twist.

In the space of nine balls, middle-order pair Ashleigh Gardner and Perry came and went, and the world champions suddenly found themselves 4-46 in the 10th over – still 73 runs adrift of their target.

It was then that the familiar pairing of Mooney (34) and Tahlia McGrath joined forces, just as they had done 15 nights earlier in a memorable ODI run chase in Mackay.

McGrath had an early life when she edged behind to a diving Richa Ghosh, who couldn't hold a difficult chance, and just as Mooney looked like she might play the hero role for the second time in the series, the left-hander became Gayakwad's second victim, running down the wicket and missing an attempted pull through midwicket to be easily stumped.

In her maiden T20I innings, second-gamer McGrath found crucial boundaries on both sides of the wicket, and after Nicola Carey was stumped for seven, it was Wareham who proved the perfect foil, collecting two fours to put Australia within touching distance.

From there, McGrath took centre stage, the right-hander crunching a straight drive for four and then another through cover, before collecting the final single from the first ball of the final over to seal the match, and with it, the series.

Australia XI: Alyssa Healy (wk), Beth Mooney, Meg Lanning (c), Ashleigh Gardner, Ellyse Perry, Tahlia McGrath, Nicola Carey, Sophie Molineux, Georgia Wareham, Hannah Darlington, Tayla Vlaeminck

India XI: Shafali Verma, Smriti Mandhana, Jemimah Rodrigues, Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Yastika Bhatia, Richa Ghosh (wk), Pooja Vastrakar, Deepti Sharma, Shikha Pandey, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Renuka Singh 

CommBank Series v India

Australia lead India 9-5 on points

Australia squad: Meg Lanning (c), Darcie Brown, Maitlan Brown, Stella Campbell, Nicola Carey, Hannah Darlington, Ashleigh Gardner, Alyssa Healy, Tahlia McGrath, Sophie Molineux, Beth Mooney, Ellyse Perry, Georgia Redmayne, Molly Strano, Annabel Sutherland, Tayla Vlaeminck, Georgia Wareham

India T20I squad: Harmanpreet Kaur (c), Smriti Mandhana (vc), Shafali Verma, Jemimah Rodrigues, Deepti Sharma, Sneh Rana, Yastika Bhatia, Shikha Pandey, Meghna Singh, Pooja Vastrakar, Rajeshwari Gayakwad, Poonam Yadav, Richa Ghosh (wk), Harleen Deol, Arundhati Reddy, Radha Yadav, Renuka Singh.

First ODI:Australia won by nine wickets

Second ODI: Australia won by five wickets

Third ODI: India won by two wickets

One-off Test: Match drawn

Oct 7: No result

Oct 9: Australia won by four wickets

Oct 10: Third T20, Metricon Stadium, Gold Coast