AFP PHOTO / Dibyangshu SARKAR Australia’s tour of India suffered another jolt as Australia lost to India by 50 runs in the second one day international at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. It was another comprehensive win by the Men in Blue as they systematically and surgically dissected Aussie plans and with the win, India now only needs to win one more game to clinch the series.
India are currently going through a purple patch as after annihilating Sri Lanka, it was expected that Australia would put up a better performance to challenge the supremacy of mighty Indians, but on the contrary the tour for kangaroos has gone awry with same old issues of ineptness against spin, bowling in heat and adaptability to the slow and low conditions once again coming to the fore. Australia need to improve drastically to stay relevant in the series, otherwise India would love nothing more than inflicting 5-0 Brownwash on Australia.
Here are the five factors that helped India triumph over Australia at Kolkata
PTI Photo by Ashok Bhaumik
1. Virat Kohli’s pristine touch: Indian captain, after the disappointment of first ODI at Chennai (zero), bounced back in style as he scored a composed 92 off 107 balls and along with Ajinkya Rahane added (55) added 102 runs for the second wicket in very hot and humid conditions. After the dismissal of Kohli, Indian innings quickly subsided and that puts Kohli’s 92 runs in context. The skipper also marshalled his troops well in the field and ensured that team was switched on while defending a middling score.
PTI Photo by Ashok Bhaumik
2. Overcoming middle-order blues: India, despite winning the match continue to have problem in the middle order and it once again proved that India are over reliant on top three of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan (out due to personal reasons) and Kohli. India lost their last seven wickets for 66 runs and it robbed the team of extra 20-30 runs. The team has tried many combinations, but still looking for that elusive formula which can bind the middle order together. The performance of Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav has left lot to be desired and time is running out before India fixes this problem. But, they managed to survive again at Kolkata.
AFP PHOTO / Dibyangshu SARKAR
3. Australia committing harakiri: Australia over the years have said that India is their final frontier and apart from 2004 tour, Aussies have floundered on every tour. Apart from David Warner and Steven Smith, the batting looks very weak and again the inexperience was shown at the second ODI. Smith playing his hundredth ODI looked good for quite a while before losing his wicket and the Achilles heel of spin again resurfaced for Australia. Kangaroos again lost wickets in clusters and were flummoxed by Indian bowlers.
The bowling looked more penetrated with the inclusion of Kane Richardson and Ashton Agar, but the batters have to take more responsibility to take the team through (read: Glenn Maxwell) and formulate a game plan to counter Indian bowling.
AFP PHOTO / Dibyangshu SARKAR
4. Indian bowlers’ all-round show: Indian bowling has come up in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years and punt on trying wrist spinners in Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav paid off spectacularly as Yadav became the third Indian bowler to pick up the hat-trick after Chetan Sharma and Kapil Dev in ODI cricket and the move of trying attacking options for limited overs cricket by selectors and think tank has worked. Yadav relied on basics and the baggy greens had no clue which way the ball was turning and collapsed on a heap after losing skipper Smith.
Indian seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3 for 9) and Jasprit Bumrah bowled immaculately to tie down the Aussie top order and with emergence of Hardik Pandya as a seam bowling all-rounder, the bowling looks in good shape.
5. Survival of the fittest: The second ODI again showed the gulf in quality between two sides while playing in sub-continental conditions and Australians aren’t looking the part in this series and the third match at Indore becomes a do or die game for Australia and radical changes are required if Australia wants to compete in this series.
