Abhishek knows his game and his identity, hopes he continues like this: SKY

Melbourne, Oct 31 (PTI) Opener Abhishek Sharma has carved out an identity for himself with his aggressive batting and he should stick to his approach, India captain Suryakumar Yadav said on Friday after the visitors lost the second T20I against Australia by four wickets here.

The 25-year-old stood out as the lone performer in the top order smashing a 37-ball 68 as the rest crumbled with India being dismissed for a below-par 125 in 18.4 overs. Australia shot down the target in just 13.2 overs.

"Abhishek has been doing this for quite some time now. He knows his game and his identity," Suryakumar said at the post-match presentation.

"He is not changing it anymore and hopefully he sticks to it and plays many more knocks like this for us." The Indian captain gave credit to Australia pacer Josh Hazlewood (3/13) for his brilliant show with the ball to restrict India to a low score.

"The way he (Hazlewood) bowled in the powerplay, if you're four down in the powerplay it's difficult to recover from that. Well bowled..." Asked what was the takeaway from the loss, he said, "I think we need to do what we did in the first game. Bat well when batting first and then come out and defend." In the first game in Canberra, India were batting well, reaching 97 for 1 in 9.4 overs before rain played the spoilsport.

Suryakumar and Shubman Gill were unbeaten on 37 and 39 respectively.

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh lauded Hazlewood's effort with the ball.

"It was a good toss to win. Bit of moisture and Hoff (Hazlewood) is a great bowler when there's something in it. Wanted to take a couple of wickets early.

"I think since the last World Cup we have tried to really build a squad of 25 players who can, if required, come to the World Cup and feel a part of the team and be connected to everyone." On himself crossing 2000 runs in T20Is with his 46 , he said, "I was a bit nervous but got going in the end. Head took the pressure off. Should be a good three games to come." Man-of-the-match Hazlewood, who is not playing the remaining three matches, said the ball was coming out nicely from him no matter which format he was playing, and he is ready to go for the Ashes beginning November 21.

"So just trying to put the ball in the right areas and see what happens. Everything feels in a good place and ready to go (for the Ashes).

"I think there's no better place to learn than here. Nathan does his job every time, bowls some of the tough overs. So we'll have a lot of quicks fighting for spots soon.

"Going to head home tomorrow. Still have time to prepare for the Shield Game and then head to Perth for the first Test." PTI PDS PDS TAP