India Beat Australia By 50 Runs In Second ODI – As It Happened

India Beat Australia By 50 Runs In Second ODI – As It Happened

Not a bad game of cricket, this. It won’t necessarily look like it with a raw scoreline of 252 to 202. But this was another reminder that there is something to be said about ODI cricket where bat and ball are more evenly balanced.
Firstly, for the defeated Australians, Stoinis was impressive with an unbeaten 62. The big man has skills. Smith had it all going on as well for 59, before holing out in his 100th ODI. But it was his wicket, reducing Australia to 135-5, that brought Kuldeep into the game.
The left-arm wrist spinner caught fire in the 33rd over, claiming a joyous hat-trick of Wade then Agar then Cummins. The final of those was one the best hat-trick balls I’ve ever seen, a picture-perfect wrong’un to win the edge, Dhoni doing the rest.
This isn’t to overlook the work of Bhuvneshwar earlier. He was outstanding hooping the ball both ways; through Cartwright’s gate then knicking off Warner. Swing bowling of the highest standard. Australia had no answer until his initial bust was done.
In the middle, it was Chahal – the second of India’s wrist-spinners – who did his bit, deceiving Maxwell and Head in quick succession, just at the time both men looked relatively set.
All told, Australia’s last seven wickets fell for 96. It may be white ball cricket, but they have a real knack of collapsing in this part of the world. They are now one loss away from losing the series in straight sets, with more questions than answers for the world champs. They have lost ten of their last 11 ODIs, would you believe.
Righto, that’ll do from me. On behalf of Sam Perry and myself, thanks for your company. We’ll do it all again on Sunday. Bye for now.
Courtesy : theguardian