Carrara (Gold Coast)- India defended a modest total with a stifling bowling performance for a 48-run win over Australia in the fourth T20 International to grab an unassailable 2-1 lead in the five-match series here on Thursday.

The architects of India's win were Axar Patel and Shivam Dube who shared two wickets each to put Australia on the backfoot in the run chase.

Washington Sundar struck thrice towards the end as India comfortably defended 168 with Australia folding up for 119 in 18.2 overs after being 91/3 at one stage.

The final T20 will be played in Brisbane on November 8. The opening match of the series was washed out in Canberra.

Openers Matthew Short (30 off 24) and Mitchell Marsh (25 off 19) got Australia off the blocks smoothly in the run chase but a flurry of wickets in the middle overs pushed the hosts to a point of no return.

After Axar trapped Short in the powerplay, Dube removed Marsh and Tim David (14 off 9) in successive overs to make a telling impact on the game. The wicket of Marsh came off his second ball before he surprised David with a short ball in the following over.

Arshdeep Singh too picked a wicket in the middle overs and the game seemed done and dusted when Glenn Maxwell saw his exposed stumps disturbed off the last ball of Varun Chakaravarthy's fourth over.

The stellar performance came after a middling batting effort. India never got the momentum they needed after a wicket-less powerplay to end with an underwhelming 167 for eight.

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