On both trips, they played almost an old brand of cricket. Batters were bounced, fielders let balls go through their legs and dropped catches, and bowlers sprayed the ball all over the place. Virat Kohli’s team did their best to reflect that across departments, as they were outscored by 66 runs against a powerful Australian lineup.
SCOREKEEPER
Chasing a 375 mammoth on a good hitting pitch, India finished with 308/8, thanks in large part to the efforts of Hardik Pandya (90; 76b, 7×4, 4×6) and left-handed starter Shikhar Dhawan (74; 86b, 10×4) , and his 128 fighting alliance for the fifth spot. The margin seemed smaller because towards the end, Australia tested their halftime spinners to increase the excessive rate, which was criminally slow for both teams.
Only briefly during that position did India appear competitive. The rest of the higher order seemed rushed against the pace of Josh Hazlewood, who expertly used the short ball to take out Mayank Agarwal, Kohli and Shreyas Iyer. Leg spinner Adam Zampa also had an excellent start, firing KL Rahul early and then returning on his second spell to break the menacing position between Dhawan and Pandya to finish 4-45.
Pattern Aaron Finch (114; 124b, 9×4, 2×6) scored his 17th ton of ODI and got 156 for the opening window with David warner (69; 76b, 6×4) to lay the foundation for a massive total after winning the toss. But she was a perennial nemesis Steve Smith, with a 66-ball 105 (11×4, 4×6), which really hit India. Glenn Maxwell’s cameo (45; 19b, 5×4, 3×6) added salt to wounds as India’s bowling and field weakened under attack.
Australia’s starters started out with attention, but once they realized they were hitting on the road, they got more adventurous. Jasprit bumrah was guilty of a rogue bowling alley. He has struggled to choose grounds in international white ball cricket after his injury. Usually penetrating and powerful on Powerplay, he has yet to scalp a hitter this year in the first 10 overs.
Realizing the need for a breakthrough, Skipper Kohli turned to his spinners, leggie Yuzvendra Chahal and Ravindra Jadeja. But the Australians accelerated. Chahal, in particular, was quite expensive as both Warner and Finch targeted it. His 1-89 is the most awarded by an Indian spinner in ODIs.
The impressive Mohammad Shami, casting his second spell, provided the visitors with the first breakthrough with Warner’s wicket. And if India, whose body language in the field curiously lacked energy or intention, was waiting for a breather, it was not. Smith, who is now averaging 63.25 against India in ODIs against a career average of 43.10, survived a close call from Jadeja, which was given, but was revised and reversed.
The switch was flipped and indicated that this was Smith’s day. The former captain, who fought in the IPL, had warned the Indians a couple of days ago, saying he had rediscovered his batting rhythm and found his hands. He too had found his legs and was in full view on his own ground.
Moving around the crease, swinging balls off the stump to the middle of the wicket, walking to the side of the leg to slap the bowlers over the cover point for six, heavily crying spinners, it was a buffet of extraordinary blows from Steve Smith.
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