Krunal (1/26), who was clubbed for three straight sixes in Brisbane by Maxwell, got his revenge when he slipped one past the Australian's defenses to have him bowled for 19.
Put into bat, Australia overcame a poor start in which captain Aaron Finch departed for a golden duck - slipping to 62-5 at the halfway stage - to reach 132-7 in 19 overs when rain forced the players off the field at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The umpires first considered a 19-overs-a-side game before setting India a revised target of 90 from 11 overs to level the series. After a brief rain delay, the target was revised to 137 from 19 overs.
President of India's official twitter account also outlined the significance of President Kovind witnessing the worldwide cricket match live and wrote, "While he will only watch a few minutes of play at the MCG #PresidentKovind will become the first President of India to see an global cricket march live overseas".
India arrived in Australia less than a week to go for the series opener and adjusting to the hard and bouncy surfaces is a work in progress for Ahmed.
India did not make any changes in their side while Australia brought in Nathan Coulter-Nile for Billy Stanlake.
Australia got off to an excellent start by winning the first T20 match in Brisbane even though various factors were going against them, and that should give them a much-needed boost in confidence after a hard spell in 2018.
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Kumar then struck with his second delivery, dismissing Aaron Finch (0) caught behind. But there were hiccups.
Ahmed did strike in the fourth over and pegged Australia back as Lynn was caught in the deep going for another big one.
He persisted with pace even after the Powerplay and was rewarded with Bumrah removing Marcus Stoinis (4) cheaply.
For India, fast-bowlers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Khaleel Ahmed were the pick of the bowlers as they scalped two wickets each.
Given the situation, skipper Virat Kohli showed surprising consistency in team selection and continued to back Krunal Pandya in the all-rounder guise.
Australia somehow managed to cross the 100-mark in the 16th over, thanks to a 27-run partnership between Nathan Coulter-Nile (18) and McDermott. McDermott kept his cool on one end and scored 31 off 20 balls with Andrew Tye (12), to provide the impetus to the innings before rain stopped play.
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