Picture : ICC/ X
Australia held their nerve and showed greater grit as they romped home by 2 wickets in the second ODI at Adeliade Oval against India . With this win Aussies have clinched the three- match ODI series.
Earlier, winning the toss Aussie Skipper Mitchell Marsh opted to bowl first. India were rattled early with Skipper Shubman Gill out for 9 and Virat Kohli out 0 for the second consecutive time. Virat’s cheap dismissal’s left fans shell- shocked.
Fortunately, Rohit Sharma showed glimpses of his old self with a signature innings of 73 ( 97 balls, 7 fours 2 sixes) . Deputy Shreyas Iyer played good hand with a 61 ( 77 balls , 7 fours) . Axar Patel played yet another vital innings of 44 ( 41 balls, 5 fours), K L Rahul ( 11), Washington Sundar ( 12) , Nitish Reddy ( 8).
Seamer Harshit Rana threw his bat wround for a quick unbeaten 24 ( 18 balls, 3 fours), Arshseep Singh ( 13), India finishing at a fighting 264/9 in their 50 overs. A target for bowlers to defend .
Aussie bowling figures read : Mitchell Starc 2/62 ( 10 overs), Josh Hazlewood 0/29 ( 10 overs) , Xavier Bartlett impressed with figures of 3/39 ( 10 overs), Mitchell Owen 0/20 ( 2 overs), Adam Zampa bagged 4/60 ( 10 overs), Cooper Connolly 0/11 ( 3 overs), Travis Head 0/16 ( 2 overs), Matthew Short 0/23 ( 3 overs)
In reply Australia got off to a shaky start. They lost in- form Skipper MItchell Marsh early for 11. Travis Head too missed out a big innings out for 28. But Matthew Short 74 ( 78 balls , 4 fours 2 sixes) put Australia back on track to chase 265.
Matt Renshaw chipped with 30. Alex Carey’s return was a flop as he was out for just 9. Australia innings started to wobble . But timely knock from Mitchell Owen 36 ( 23 balls, 2 fours, 3 sixes) calmed the Aussie nerves.Xavier Bartlett ( 3), Mitchell Starc ( 4 ) fell quickly too. The chase was becoing tricky.
However, Cooper Connolly seized the opportunity with both hands and went on to play an unbetaen match- winning knock of 61 ( 53 balls, 5 fours, 1 six) to frustrate India and with Adam Zampa not out 0 saw Australia home by 2 wickets . Australia finishing at 265/8 in 46. 2 overs. Shubman Gill’s tenure and ODI skipper hence begins on a losing note.
India bowlers gave it all but in vain : Mohammed Siraj 1/49 ( 10 overs), Arshdeep Singh 2/41 ( 8. 2 overs) , Harshit Rana 2/59( 8 overs), Washington Sundar 2/37 ( 7 overs) , Nitish Reddy 0/24 ( 3 overs) , Axar Patel 1/52 ( 10 overs)
