India delivered a massive breakthrough as Varun Chakaravarthy, in his very first over, sent back a dangerous-looking Travis Head for 39. Head had already smashed five boundaries and two sixes, building momentum before Rohit Sharma turned to his Player of the Match from the previous game. Chakaravarthy's mystery spin did the trick- Head mistimed his shot, skying the ball to Shubman Gill at long-on.

Earlier, Mohammed Shami had drawn first blood for India in the third over, dismissing Cooper Connolly for a duck and making amends for dropping Head on the very first ball. However, Rohit Sharma's toss luck remained cursed- India lost their 14th in a row as Steve Smith won and opted to bat. India remained unchanged, while Australia made two swaps- Connolly replaced the injured Matthew Short, and Jason Sangha came in for Spencer Johnson.

Between 2016 and 2021, India had turned the tables on Australia, winning both ICC tournament clashes- the 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2019 ODI World Cup- and clinching four consecutive Border-Gavaskar series, including two in Australia.