Hazlewood continues exceptional start as Aussies claim victory

Nicholas Quinlan • November 1st, 2025 3:57 pm

Australia was treated to a comfortable victory against India on Halloween, with the hosts claiming a four-wicket win at a sold-out MCG for their second T20.

But before play got underway, both sides ensured to pay their respects to 17-year-old Ben Austin, who tragically passed away on Thursday following an accident whilst batting in the nets.

Once the game got underway, the visitors, who were sent into bat, appeared to have gotten off to a nightmare start with Shubman Gill being called out on the first ball of the match, with Josh Hazlewood getting the ball to hit his pads.

But that call would be overturned through a review. But Gill would struggle to get off the mark until the final ball of the first over.

But in the next over, fellow opener Abhishek Sharma made sure to make up for any runs lost as he hit 14 runs in his first four balls.

Abhishek would prove to be the anchor for the innings, as India had a somewhat mini-collapse between the third and eighth overs, led by Josh Hazlewood.

During those overs, the World No.1s in T20 cricket lost five wickets for just 29 runs, with Hazlewood taking three, which put Abhisek and India under serious pressure.

But with Harshit Rana, the two would stop the collapse between the middle overs and combined for a 56-run partnership, which saw Abhishek raise the bat for a 50.

However, once Xavier Bartlett took the wicket of Rana in the 16th over, it would trigger another collapse, which saw their innings finish with 10 balls remaining.

Setting the Aussies a total of 126 to chase, the opening pair of Travis Head and Mitch Marsh got going quickly in the power play.

By the time they were dismissed for 28 and 46 respectively, Australia was well ahead of the run rate and was well on its way to claim the first win of the five-match series.

Josh Inglis and Mitch Owen would get the home side most of the way to the target before Marcus Stoinis hit the winning runs with 46 balls to spare.

Reflecting on his side’s performance, Bartlett couldn’t help but praise the performance of Hazlewood, who picked up the man of the match award for his 3/13 during his bowling spell.

“He’s amazing,” he told SEN Cricket post-game.

“Just his consistency. He’s just relentless (with) line and length.

“He always makes the game look so easy and slows it down for you. He’s in some unbelievable form heading into The Ashes.”

Both sides are now heading south to play each other at Bellerive Oval in Hobart on Sunday.

SEN will have LIVE coverage of the match from 6pm AEDT with David Lithgow and Brett Geeves on commentary.