Sydney: The disappointing stint for the Men in Blue continues as Australia beat India by 51 runs in the second ODI to go 2-0 up to clinch the three-match series at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday (November 29). Steve Smith, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell topped the scoring charts again while Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa racked up five wickets combined.
Chasing a huge target of 390, India started well as both openers Mayank Agarwal and Shikhar Dhawan started well getting 56 in 7overs before the latter got out going for big hit but mistiming it only to be caught by Mitchell Starc. Agarwal went just after that for 28. Skipper Virat Kohli along with Shreyas Iyer started the rebuilding. The duo looked good in the middle taking India past 150 before he got out for 38 due to an excellent catch by Smith.
KL Rahul joined hands with the Virat to make something happen. In the meantime, Kohli brought up his fifty was looking in great touch taking the Aussie bowlers on with the highlight being a short-arm flick for a six off the bowling of Starc. But tragedy struck again when he got out for a brilliant 89 off 87 going for a big hit but was caught brilliantly by Moises Henriques and the biggest hope for chasing the target was gone.
India’s problem of throwing away wickets in crucial moments has cost them a lot while the Aussie bowlers were using the short ball to perfection to make life difficult for the batsman in the middle. Pat Cummins was the pick of the bowler with the figure of 3/67 while spinner Adam Zampa again chipped with two wickets. KL Rahul fought alone fight scoring 76 but the asking rate was too much to handle and India ended their innings at 338/9 in 50 overs.
Earlier in the match, Australia won the toss and opted for batting. Both the openers David Warner and skipper Aaron Finch started steadily getting 59 in the mandatory powerplay before the partnership broke on 142 when Finch got out for a well a made 60 off 69. Warner followed him soon after for 83 off 77 balls.
Steve Smith along with Marnus Labuschagne started rebuilding the innings with the former being the more aggressor taking Indian bowlers to cleaners and brought up his hundred in just 62 balls showing again to the world why he is considered such a gem of a batsman. He got out chasing a Hardik Pandya delivery outside off stump only to edge it to Shami at sleep who made no mistake with the catch.
Indian bowlers had a day to forget with the script being the same as the first ODI as all of them weren’t finding the usual rhythm. Towards the end Maxwell came in next and started smacking it all around the park before making squash buckling 63 off just 29 with Labuschagne contributing well with a 70 off 61 to take the score to a massive 389/4 in 50 overs. Smith was rightly awarded the Man of Match with Australia winning the series with one game to spare.
Brief scores: Australia 389/4 in 50 overs (Steve Smith 105, David Warner 83, Marnus Labuschagne 70, Glenn Maxwell 63; Hardik Pandya 1/24) beat India 338/9 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 89, KL Rahul 76; Pat Cummins 3/67, Adam Zampa 2/62) by 51 runs.
