India vs Australia (2nd ODI)

India mourned the biggest defeat in their ODI history yesterday. Their previous biggest loss by balls was against New Zealand (212 balls, in 2019). The Aussies romped to a massive 10-wicket win against hosts India in the 2nd match of the series on Sunday (March 18) with 234 balls in hand.

The Men in Blues’ innings was stopped at just 117 runs in 26 overs on the fierce bowling efforts of Mitchell Starc and Sean Abbott. Then Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head raised a batting storm over the Indian bowlers and took the team to the port of victory in just 11 overs.

The score of 117 is India’s fourth-lowest score at home. Not only that, but it is also their lowest score at home against Australia. With this, Team India has lost by 10 wickets in two ODIs and two T20I matches in the last four years.

In 2020, Australia defeated India by 10 wickets in an ODI match at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Then in 2021, India lost to Pakistan by 10 wickets in T20 World Cup.

The Men in Blues again got defeated by 10 wickets in the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup 2022 held in Australia last year. They lost again by 10 wickets in the last ODI match yesterday against the Aussies.

However, in the match at Visakhapatnam yesterday, the hosts were knocked out of the match in the first half itself. After losing the toss and going down to bat, India’s innings ended in just 2 hours and 20 minutes. It started with Starc’s dismissal of Shubman Gill in the first over.

Gill (0) was caught by Marnus Labuschagne at point while playing the ball outside the body. Similarly, captain Rohit (13) was caught at slip while playing the ball outside the stump off Starc. Suryakumar Yadav, who came down to handle the double blow, was also caught LBW on the first ball he faced. After a while, the same happened to KL Rahul (9) who played an unbeaten inning of 75 runs in the previous match.

At the other end, Abbott picked up the wicket of Hardik Pandya (1) and the hosts lost 5 wickets for 48 runs in 8.4 overs. But with Virat Kohli as the center, they were still hoping to turn around. However, Glenn Maxwell’s replacement Nathan Ellis dashed those hopes.

He first trapped Kohli lbw, then sent back Ravindra Jadeja with a catch off Alex Carey. Kohli scored 31 off 35 balls and Jadeja scored 16 off 39 balls. Axar Patel’s innings helped India cross the hundred mark. In the end, the left-handed all-rounder remained unbeaten on 29 runs off 29 balls, hitting 1 four and 2 sixes.

Starc completed 5 wickets in the match by breaking Mohammed Siraj’s stump. He was also presented as the player in the match. Besides, Sean Abbott scalped 3 wickets and Nathan Ellis picked up 2 wickets.

Starc is now in joint third place in ODI history for the most five-wicket hauls in a match. Along with Brett Lee and Shahid Afridi, he has taken 5 wickets 9 times so far. Waqar Younis and Muttiah Muralitharan are the first two to do the same 13 and 10 times respectively.

Australia maintained the fast pace of bowling in batting as well. None of India’s five bowlers could trouble the two Aussie openers Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh. Both batted furiously hoping to end the match quickly. Head, who picked up a 29-ball fifty, remained unbeaten on 51 runs in 10 boundaries.

On the other hand, Mitchell Marsh, who scored fifty off 28 balls, was also unbeaten on 66 runs. This opener hit 6 boundaries as well as 6 sixes. With their great batting, Australia reached the verge of victory in just 11 overs.

Australia won the 100-over match in 37 overs to level the three-match series 1-1. The third and final ODI match of the series will be played on March 22 (Wednesday) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

India vs Australia Scoreboard

India – 117/10 (26.0)

Australia – 121/0 (11.0)

Result – Australia won by 10 wickets

Player of the match – Mitchell Starc

Mitchell Starc

India vs Australia Playing Xis