Melbourne [Australia], October 31 (ANI): India captain Suryakumar Yadav praised Josh Hazlewood's exceptional bowling in the powerplay, which set the tone for Australia's four-wicket win in the second T20I at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.

He also lauded Abhishek Sharma's impressive knock, urging him to continue playing his natural game. Suryakumar emphasised the importance of batting well and defending with tight lines in the upcoming games.

'(on Hazlewood) Absolutely. The way he bowled in the power play - if you're four down early, it's very difficult to recover. Credit goes to him, he bowled really well. (on Abhishek) He's been doing this for a while now. He knows his game, knows his identity, and it's good he's not changing it - that's what's brought him success. Hopefully, he sticks with it and plays many more knocks like this for us. (Quick turnaround for the next game) We need to do the same thing we did in the first game - bat really well if we're batting first, and then come out and defend with good, tight lines,' Suryakumar Yadav said after the match.

Australia posted a commanding victory over India in the second T20I at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday as the visitors failed to perform with the bat except for a swashbuckling 68 from Abhishek Sharma and a useful 35 from Harshit Rana.

Josh Hazlewood was the pick of the Australian bowlers and bagged three wickets for 13 runs. He removed Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav and Tilak Varma.

Australia had an easy task on hand and smoothly cruised to the target with captain Mitchell Marsh scoring 26-ball 46. The hosts reached the target with 6.4 overs to spare and are now 1-0 up in the five-match T20 series, with the first T20 having been washed out due to rain.

Most Indian batters struggled to get in double digits. Eight Indian batters contributed only 19 runs, with Abhishek and Harshit putting up 103 runs.

Brief score: India 125/10 (Abhishek Sharma 68, Harshit Rana 35; Josh Hazlewood 3/13). Vs Australia 126/6 (Mitchell Marsh 46, Travis Head 28; Varun Chakaravarthy 2/23). (ANI)