India vs Australia 2nd T20I: Rain washes out Melbourne game; hosts remain 1-0 up

The players shake hands, the game has been CALLED-OFF! 

UPDATE: The covers are back and it certainly is not looking good. If at all the play resumes, India will need 46 off 5 overs! 

Revised target: India need in 90 runs 11 overs. But wait- the rain is back on. 

The play was about to resume with India needing 137 in 19 overs. Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma were walking to the middle. But rain has put that on hold for now.

There is more bad news- rain is getting harder. The covers are coming back on.

It's still raining again at MCG- there will be some over lost. So, Messrs Duckworth and Lewis will play a part in this match too.

Australia are 132/8 after 19 overs. Ben McDermott (32* runs 30 balls) has been the best batsmen for them. Nathan Coulter-Nile (20) and Andrew Tye (12*) have given Australia some very important late order runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed have picked up 2 wickets each for India. 

It's raining again at MCG- the umpires have taken the players off the field, with one over to go in Australia's innings. 

A boundary off the last ball ruins an otherwise good over from Bumrah. McDermott stays back and inside the line, opens the face to steer it past the keeper's right. 

Australia take 10 runs from the 19th.

Australia 132/7 after 19 overs 

Uh-oh! It's begun to rain at the MCG again.

4,4,6

Great over for Australia. Andrew Tye takes consecutive boundaries off Khaleel before McDermott ends the over with a maximum. This over has given some respectibility to Australia total- 19 runs off it.  

Australia 122/7 after 18 overs

WICKET

Bhuvneshwar returns to remove Coulter-Nile. He tries to carve a short ball outside off over the point boundary but does not get the power. He goes for 20.

Australia 101/7 after 16 overs

15 overs gone

Nathan Coulter-Nile, who replaced the injured Billy Stanlake for this game, has played couple of big shots since coming in- Ben McDermott has had a start at the other end. Australia will look to use the last five other to post a challenging total. 

Australia 92/6 after 15 overs

OUT

Alex Carey departs- he oes for a wild slog and skies it high and straight to deep mid-wicket. Krunal Pandya takes the catch. 

Australia 74/6 after 13.1 overs

OUT

Krunal Pandya has bowled Glenn Maxwell- Pandya gets his revenge. The quicker ball beats Maxwell, brushes the outside edge and crashed into off stumps. Timber.

Australia 62/5 after 11 overs 

Australia get to 50

India have bowled two over spin now. Kohli is trying to sneak in Krunal's quota as Aussies try to recover. The run rate is below 6 right now.

Australia 52/4 after 9 overs 

END OF POWERPLAY

Stoinis gets a lucky FOUR as the edge flies over slip. This has been a great start for India. It could have greater if they hadn't dropped two catches. 

Australia 40/3 after 6 overs 

OUT

Khaleel Ahmed gets another one. Short has played it on- he tried to heave a length ball from outside off and dragged it onto the stumps. India have sent Australia's top three back inside the powerplay.

Australia 35/3 after 5.3 overs 

OUT

India finally take a catch and a good one at that. Lynn is gone for 13. 

Khaleel bowls a slower one wide outside off and Lynn reachs out and slices this high. Krunal runs in to take a good catch at deep point.  

Australia 27/2 after 3.5 overs 

DROPPED and SIX

Lynn goes long and gets a life. And a maximum. Lynn swings high but Bumrah is unsure of the rope at fine leg and parries it over the rope. Missed chance no. 2 for India. 

Australia 16/1 after 2.4 overs 

DROPPED

Short edges gets a thick edge. Pant dives full stretch to his left, takes it in his left glove but couldn't hold on the ball as he hits the ground. First missed chance for India today as Kumar nearly gets his second.

India go for Khaleel at the other end. Kohli is keeping Bumrah for later. It was good over expect for a boundary by Short - he sent it straight through mid off with power.

Australia 9/1 after 2 overs 

OUT

What a great start for India- Bhuvneshwar sends back Finch for a golden duck. It was bowled wide outside off. Finch reached out to drive and edged it to Pant

Australia 1/1 after 0.2 overs

We are ready for the start- the Indian have taken the field. D'Arcy Short on strike, Aaron Finch at the other end. Bhuvneshwar to bowl the first over.

These stats look good for India- Teams winning the toss have elected to chase on each of the last 8 T20s at the MCG. On each of the these occasions, they've gone to win the game.

India have made no changes to their side that played 1st T20I.

Here are the two teams:

India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli (capt.), KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Krunal Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Khaleel Ahmed

Australia: Aaron Finch (capt.), D'Arcy Short, Chris Lynn, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Ben McDermott, Alex Carey (wk), Nathan Coulter-Nile, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Jason Behrendorff

TOSS: Virat Kohli wins the toss, India to bowl first. The game is expected to start on time. The rain has stopped.

Rain may play spoilsport at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday as India get ready to take on Australia in the second T20I of the three-match series. While India will be eager to make a comeback in the series after their narrow 4-run loss at the Brisbane in the first match, the rain gods might have different plans. 

The covers are still on at the MCG. Fingers crossed this rain clears over the next few hours. Gates open at 5pm. Scheduled start time is 6.50pm, but can commence later if required. #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/osl9KfjpCz

— Melbourne Cricket Club (@MCC_Members) November 23, 2018