The visitors will have to play out of their skins to arrest the slide and level the series ahead of the last T20I in Hyderabad on October 13.
After claiming a match-winning five-wicket haul in Australia A's third straight victory in the tri-series, left-arm spinner Ashton Agar said the visiting bowlers kept their plans simple against the India A batsmen and adapted well to the pace of the wicket.
A supremely confident Delhi Daredevils return to their den and have a struggling and injury-ravaged Rising Pune Supergiants in their firing line up next in the Indian Premier League, in New Delhi, on Thursday.
Josh Hazlewood hat-trick may not be enough to make WT20 XI.
While KKR suffered their heaviest defeat of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last game, Pune looked to have found their mojo in the business end of the tournament having registered consecutive wins in their last two matches.
Hetmyer smacked three sixes and eight fours in his entertaining knock, helping his side chase down a modest target of 128.
Ben Stokes smashed an unbeaten century as England outclassed World champions Australia by 40 runs via the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-hit match to knock them out of the ICC Champions Trophy, in Birmingham, on Saturday.
The Pune outfit is presently languishing at the sixth spot in the eight-team standings with just four points.
Dhoni has to ponder over both the batting and bowling departments of his team.
Images from the 4th ODI played between India and Australia in Bengaluru on Thursday
The all-rounder is at the top of the MVP table more because of his batting than his bowling, note Srinivas Bhogle and Purnendu Maji.
Even on paper, there is not much to choose, especially with Pune beating MI thrice this season including a comprehensive victory in Qualifier 1. But a impressive show by Mumbai in the final cannot be ruled out.
Delhi Daredevils defeated fancied Rising Pune Supergiant by seven runs in New Delhi on Friday, making it tougher for the visitors in their quest to make it to the play-offs, in the Indian Premier League.
It will be a battle of survival for the two national captains as Virat Kohli's struggling Royal Challengers Bangalore square off against a fledgling Pune Supergiants led by Mahendra Singh Dhoni in an IPL encounter for the bottom-rung teams in Bengaluru on Saturday. With five defeats in seven games, RCB are currently placed at a lowly seventh spot in the table with four points while Pune are just a notch above in sixth spot courtesy their third win against Delhi Daredevils, on Thursday. It has been a tough journey for the two superstars of Indian cricket as their franchises have dished one disappointing performance after another. RCB with perhaps the most intimidating batting line-ups has had to taste defeat because of a pedestrian bowling attack that has failed to defend 180 plus scores in most of the matches.
On a roll after three consecutive wins, a resurgent Sunrisers Hyderabad will start as overwhelming favourites against struggling Rising Pune Supergiants in an Indian Premier League match, in Hyderabad, on Tuesday.
Getting his team composition right will be Mahendra Singh Dhoni's primary aim as Rising Pune Supergiants meet an out-of-sorts Kings XI Punjab in an Indian Premier League cricket tournament encounter, in Mohali on Sunday.
Rajneesh Gupta presents a complete statistical IPL dossier.
Australia knocked Pakistan out of the ICC World Twenty20 with a convincing 21-run victory, setting up a virtual quarter-final against hosts India to be played in Mohali on Sunday.
Rajneesh Gupta profiles the cricketers playing the World Cup 2019.
Harish Kotian/Rediff.com picks five performances that took spectators' breaths away in week 9: Five wonderful knocks and one magical spell of bowling.
Captain Virat Kohli smashed his second century of the season in a magnificent batting display to lead Royal Challengers Bangalore to a thrilling seven-wicket win over Rising Pune Supergiants in an IPL match.
Featuring Yusuf Pathan, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Marcus Stoinis, Ashish Nehra.
As we write this we still await the crucial India-Australia knock-out in Mohali. But India's individual performances in the T20 World Cup so far haven't been truly impressive. A look at the most valuable player index (MVPI) table reveals that there's no Indian player in the top 20. MVPI merges a player's batting + bowling + fielding performance into a single 'run equivalent'. The formula to compute the MVP is devised to reward batsmen who score runs at a high strike rate, bowlers who take wickets at low economy rate and fielders who field the best (take a lot of catches and participate in run-outs). Since this is a relatively low scoring tournament we have assumed a team's par score to be 150, and each wicket to be worth 15 'runs'. It isn't a surprise that players from New Zealand dominate the rankings so far, although Joe Root tops the table after his 83 in 44 balls against South Africa.
Aruneel Sadadekar/Rediff.com picks his IPL Dream Team of Season 9. Check it out!
India Test regulars like Cheteswar Pujara and Ishant Sharma have also thrown their hat into the ring with base prices of Rs 50 and Rs 75 lakh respectively.
Rajneesh Gupta brings you the drama and the magic behind all the 12 IPL finals so far.
India's T20 World Cup challenge has ended. But it is likely that Virat Kohli (MVPI of 338) will go on to become the tournament's most valuable player because he enjoys a lead of 109 runs over second-placed Joe Root (229).
Rajneesh Gupta presents all the fascinating career numbers of players in the World Cup.
IPL 9 was not just about unfancied Sunrisers Hyderabad's triumph, Virat Kohli's run spree or Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman's economy rate.
India's batting sensation Virat Kohli, named player of the tournament, is also the most valuable player of World T20 2016. With a fifty and two wickets, England's Joe Root is just behind him.
In-form Virat Kohli leads the MVP rankings in the IPL with a MVPI of 1062 but David Warner, enjoying a sensational run with the bat and currently at third with a MVPI of 878, has the RCB captain in his sights.
With a MVPI of 1128 the Royal Challengers Bangalore captain has set records that even he might find hard to surpass.
As the top 10 teams prepare to battle for the World T20 crown, Rajneesh Gupta breaks down each squad's T20 performance and their showing in previous editions of the event.
Ahead of the start of the ninth season of the IPL, Rajneesh Gupta presents a detailed statistical analysis of the players involved.
IPL Action VIII: These players went unsold