India won the match! It was a do or die situation for Team India for their survival in the ODI series against the visiting Australian team. Team India faced a massive defeat in the first ODI match after Australian opening pair David Warner and Aaron Finch, who were in great touch, finished the match without losing even a single wicket.
In the second ODI match, though, Australia won the toss and asked India to bat, and once again Virat had a bad day with the toss.
It was a face-off situation for Team India to put a challenging score on the board for the visitors. Indian opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan managed to start the innings with a pretty decent scoring rate.
In the 14th over, Australian bowler, Adam Zampa, dismissed the Hit-Man Rohit Sharma by trapping him plumb in front of the wicket. Rohit had to walk back to the pavilion with only 42 runs to his name that were scored off 44 balls.
After that wicket, skipper Virat Kohli stepped onto the field and steadied the scoreboard along with Shikhar Dhawan. Dhawan was unfortunately dismissed by Kane Richardson when on 96 (just 4 runs short of his century).
Shreyas Iyer stepped in as the No. 4 batsman but failed to build a partnership with the skipper. He departed after Adam Zampa got him out for just 7 runs.
In the 36th over, Virat Kohli reached his 56th ODI fifty in 50-balls. After his half-century, Kohli increased the intensity of the game and again bowler Adam Zampa struck to dismiss the Indian skipper.
KL Rahul played an excellent knock of 80 off 52 balls. But while he was trying to steal a cheeky run, Alex Cary hit the stumps to run him out.
Ravindra Jadeja played a cameo at the end as India was successful in posting a challenging total of 340-6 in 50 overs.
Team Australia was not able to reach the challenging target set by the hosts.
MAN OF THE MATCH – KL Rahul Said
(80 Runs in 52 Balls 6 – 4’s 3 – 6’s )
KL Rahul said he couldn’t have asked for a better start. Each day has been thrown into different roles and responsibilities and he is enjoying it for now. He wanted to give himself a few balls, to understand what the wicket was doing and Virat said that it was coming on nicely. A few came off the middle, and he was confident he could score, and everything else faded away. He was glad that he got some partnerships and played his role to the best of his abilities. Kuldeep told him that his ‘keeping’ was good too. He grew up ‘keeping’ but he hasn’t done a lot for his first-class team, but in the last few weeks, he did keep for Karnataka. As he has been decent in wicket-keeping, he hopes he will keep his spinners and fast bowlers happy.
Virat Kohli | India captain Said:
The Indian captain said, “We live in the days of social media and the panic button was pressed too early. It’s important to not leave someone like KL out. You saw how he batted today. This is probably the best he’s played at the international level. The knock showed maturity and class, and we know exactly what we’re doing in the dressing room. An important couple of games for Shikhar. He was injured for a long time and in ODIs he’s been one of our most consistent and aggressive performers, and he can change the situation for the team. It augurs well when the two openers are so good together. Rohit’s left shoulder has popped out of a few times, and he should be good to go in the next game. Virat asked the bowlers what they wanted to do and they said this was the time to execute the yorkers. All three of them were good with the yorkers, particularly Shami who changed everything in that over. KL is becoming a multi-dimensional player, and it’s great when players step up like this.”
Aaron Finch | Australia captain Said:
Australian Captain said that he didn’t expect it to be cold. He didn’t think he might need the long-sleeved sweater. He thought they were one wicket shy of where they needed to be throughout the bowling innings, but they were world-class. “Zampa’s length has been fantastic so far. The way Smithy started today, and nearly got through to the end, but not quite. Marnus and Smith, the only time they’re apart are when they’re asleep. I think on these tracks, it’s important to capitalize when the batsman gets in. They were always just one more wicket down than what they would have liked at any stage of the chase and that’s when the required rate started getting out of reach.”
