Maxwell magic stuns India in second T20I

The result: India 4-190 (Kohli 72no, Rahul 47, Dhoni 40) lost to Australia 3-194 (Maxwell 113no) by seven wickets with two balls to spare.

The match in a tweet: MAXIMUM MAXWELL! The Victorian hammers his third T20I century to deliver his country a historic series win despite Virat Kohli's fireworks

The hero: Glenn Maxwell is seeing them like beach balls. His rearguard 56 helped seal a thrilling win in the opening match on Sunday and three days later he was imperious scoring his third T20I century, an unbeaten 113 from 55 balls.

His second ball went for six, albeit unconventionally over the keeper's head, but he never looked back as he treated both fast and slow bowling with disdain.

Maxwell spoke after Game One about how his best match-up was against the leg-spin of Yuzvendra Chahal and went on the attack in Game Two, taking a pair of fours and three sixes off the leggie.

One feature of Maxwell's tour so far has been his devotion to orthodox strokes, only sparingly pulling out a switch hit or reverse sweep. He tried two switch hits on Wednesday night; the first an ungainly miss, the second a monster six 20 rows back.

Never once did he look flustered as the required run rate sat around 11, picking off boundaries and running furiously between the wickets.

While he pointed to his bat when he raised his half-century, he was uncharacteristically muted when he reached triple figures, perhaps due to exhaustion, perhaps knowing the job wasn't done.

But it was done.

At that stage, Australia needed 13 from 11 balls, a walk in the park by modern T20 standards. His ninth six from the third ball of the final over left one to win, and fittingly he hit the winning runs the following ball with his seventh four.

He put on 99 for the fourth wicket with Peter Handscomb, who contributed just 20 but did his job of handing the strike to the in-form player. Australia have been begging for a senior player to stand up in the past 11 months and Maxwell did so tonight.

The stat: Australia's win sealed their first T20 international series win ever against India in what was their fourth-highest successful T20I run chase.

Image Id: 85449484174243CD9AA2D88CA6DCF3B8 Image Caption: Winners are grinners // Getty

The support cast: D'Arcy Short made an impressive 37 in Vizag but he was better in Bengaluru.

From ball one, which he smoked through the covers for four, Short was in control and judicious in his stroke play.

While his prowess against fast bowling is well known, it's his play against spin that has been most impressive in the T20I series

Unlike Kohli, the 28-year-old preferred to find the boundary on the bounce as he hit six fours in his innings of 40.

He had some luck on 36 when he was dropped by Rishabh Pant at backward point, but overall he'll take plenty of confidence into the five-match ODI series.

Image Id: 70AE8FB76F674F5A961CF725AF6DDE50 Image Caption: Short impressed at the top of the order // Getty

The consolation effort: It was only a matter of time before Virat Kohli would produce a score and he did so at his IPL home ground.

The Indian captain posted his 20th T20 international half-century, a brutal 72 from 38 balls with two fours and six sixes, the most maximums he's ever struck in a T20I innings.

It was unreal hitting by the Indian captain, combining with his predecessor MS Dhoni (40 from 23 balls) to put on 100 from only 50 balls for the fourth wicket.

While all of his sixes were things of beauty, his final four was a like a line drive off the first tee – flat, hard and to the boundary like a tracer bullet. With Kohli as the backbone, India added 67 from overs 14 to 18 and 52 in the final three overs but it wasn't enough.

Image Id: 5568F86D194D4477B36E589747E5677B Image Caption: Captain Kohli was at his brilliant best // Getty

The catch, part one: Prowling at deep extra cover, Marcus Stoinis swooped in and took a great catch very low down to remove opener Shikhar Dhawan.

Stoinis tumbled and recovered holding the ball in both hands claiming he had his fingers under the ball.

Dhawan started to walk off but the on-field umpires wanted a closer look, sending the catch upstairs with a soft signal of out.

Bulk replays followed, which appeared to have the balls bouncing into the Australian's hands with his fingers cupped under.

Champion batsman Matthew Hayden was adamant in commentary it was a clean catch and after the forensic examination was complete the decision was upheld and Dhawan had to go.

The catch, part two: We’ve been waiting since he made his international debut to call rookie quick Jhye Richardson 'Jumping Jhye' and finally the time has come!

Here's what happened: Rishabh Pant laces a D'Arcy Short ball flat and hard straight down the ground. The ball looked like a chance to go for six before Jumping Jhye leapt to take the intercept with both hands.

It was the high watermark of a slick night in the field for the Australians.

The other stat: Maxwell became just the third player in history to hit three T20I centuries and the first Australian to do so.

Rohit Sharma holds the record with four hundreds, while New Zealand's Colin Munro is the other player with three T20I tons.

The next stop: With the T20Is done and dusted, the Qantas Tour of India shifts gears into 50-over mode. The teams will travel to Hyderabad for Saturday's opening match, with every performance crucial in a World Cup year.

Australia XI: Aaron Finch (c), D'Arcy Short, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Peter Handscomb (wk), Ashton Turner, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff, Adam Zampa.

India XI: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant, Dinesh Karthik, MS Dhoni (wk), Krunal Pandya, Vijay Shankar, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Siddharth Kaul.

Qantas tour of India

First T20: Australia won by three wickets

Second T20: Australia won by seven wickets

First ODI: March 2, Hyderabad

Second ODI: March 5, Nagpur

Third ODI: March 8, Ranchi

Fourth ODI: March 10, Mohali

Fifth ODI: March 13, Delhi