The Aussies needed 11 to win, but in a sign of the casual nature of the match, Mohammed Shami – who was not named in India’s XI and played no previous part in the game – bowled an impressive final set.
Glenn Maxwell (23 off 16) put in a fine performance but showed enough to show that he would have come off a bad form had Karthik dropped his catch for 0. Maxwell has seen him average 7.63 (strike-rate of 64) from his last 11 T20I innings.
Finch, chasing 187 and without opening partner David Warner, who was rested with a neck complaint, found some flow after being troubled twice by clever left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh and held on till the end.
The right-handed batsman twice hit Patel on the leg-side at an average of 11.81 in his last 16 international innings, finishing with three sixes and seven fours.
With nothing riding on the result, there was a relaxed atmosphere about the game; Marcus Stoinis hugged IPL teammates Virat Kohli and Yuzvendra Chahal before playing, while England’s Moeen Ali sat in the India dugout while chatting with Rohit Sharma during the second innings.
Richardson put up a strong performance to finish with 4-30, but conceded that his hopes of playing in the tournament would likely only come to fruition if an injury broke out among Australia’s front-line pacers.
Ashton Agar (1-36) made a spectacular comeback for India captain Rohit Sharma due to a side strain for the past six weeks.
Concerns remain about Australia’s fast bowlers; Marcus Stoinis’ two overs went for 29 runs while Mitch Marsh (35 off 18) has not bowled in a competitive outing since returning from an ankle injury earlier this month.
Having won the toss and bowled, the hosts struggled to keep KL Rahul in the opening stand, with a stylish right-arm dominant, scoring 49 before Rohit could score a run.
Breakout star Suryakumar Yadav scored a 33-ball 50 to maintain the momentum but Australia took a regular lead after Rahul-Rohit stopped the show.
Richardson was stunned when Suryakumar bowled a full toss for an easy return catch in the final over, taking India to 7-186.