Raipur - On Friday, at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Cricket Stadium in Raipur, the Indian men's cricket team secured a 20-run victory against Australia in the fourth match of the five-game T20 series.

Opting to bat first, India posted a total of 174/9 in their 20 overs, propelled by noteworthy contributions from Rinku Singh and Yashasvi Jaiswal. In response, the Indian bowlers effectively defended the target, limiting the Australian side to 154/7.

With this triumph, the Indian cricket team established an insuperable 3-1 lead in the five-match T20 series. While India emerged victorious in the first two matches held in Thiruvananthapuram and Visakhapatnam, they faced defeat in the third match in Guwahati. The M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru is set to host the final match on Sunday.

This win marks India's 137th victory in T20 cricket, surpassing Pakistan's record, and it also signifies their third consecutive T20 series victory against Australia.

Ahead of Friday's fixture, both teams made several changes to their starting line-ups. Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar, and Shreyas Iyer replaced Prasidh Krishna, Arshdeep Singh, and Tilak Varma for India, while the Australian side saw five alterations from their Guwahati lineup.

India's batting innings began strongly with Yashasvi Jaiswal's aggressive start (37 off 28), but Aaron Hardie's dismissal of Jaiswal disrupted the 50-run opening partnership. Shreyas Iyer and Suryakumar Yadav followed, departing after brief stays in the middle, leaving India at 63/3.

A crucial 48-run partnership between Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rinku Singh (46 off 29) stabilized India's innings before Tanveer Sangha dismissed Gaikwad. Jitesh Sharma's arrival added momentum, but quick wickets in succession limited India to a total of 174/9.

Australia's chase commenced well, but Ravi Bishnoi's dismissal of Josh Philippe provided India with a crucial breakthrough. Axar Patel then dismissed Travis Head (31 off 16) and Aaron Hardie (8 off 9), reducing Australia to 52/3. Despite Ben McDermott and Tim David's efforts to rebuild, wickets fell in quick succession, with Patel and Deepak Chahar contributing to Australia's downfall.

Although Australian captain Matthew Wade (36 off 23) attempted a late rescue act, but in vain as the visitors fell short by 20 runs.

Brief scores: India 174/9 in 20 overs (Rinku Singh 46, Yashasvi Jaiswal 37; Ben Dwarshuis 3/40; Jason Behrendorff 2/32) beat Australia 154/7 in 20 overs (Matthew Wade 36, Travis Head 31; Axar Patel 3/16) by 20 runs.