Lightning never strikes twice in the same place! Try telling this to Steve Smith. On the same ground, against the same opponents, two days apart, Steve Smith produced yet another masterclass as he smashed his second consecutive 62-ball century. With fifties from Aaron Finch, David Warner, Marnus Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell, Australia broke their previous record of Friday and notched up a mammoth 389/4 which was the highest against India. Smith, now possessed of qualities that makes him supreme, then took a brilliant catch to end the dangerous partnership between Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer. The fielding and the disciplined effort of the Australian bowlers helped the hosts win the match in Sydney by 51 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series heading into Canberra.
This was India’s fifth consecutive loss in ODIs and for the first time in a long time, India will have a negative win-loss ratio in ODIs in 2020, winning just two and losing six so far. It was a repeat of the performance on Friday and this time the lack of bowling penetration led to the capitulation of the team morale.
Australia won the toss and batted and once again, the opening duo of David Warner and Aaron Finch began like a well-oiled machine. On Friday, both openers took their time to settle but on Sunday, David Warner got going in style and Aaron Finch joined in once he got his eye in. The dup once again kept Jasprit Bumrah wicketkless in the powerplay and India had no answers.
Warner and Finch notched up their fifth 100-plus stand against India and it was the most by any Australian opening duo against India. Warner looked good for a century but things went slightly haywire. Finch departed and Warner was run-out in the quest for an impossible second. However, that was only the start of the troubles for India for in came Steve Smith and his protégé Marnus Labuschagne.
Smith started with a couple of boundaries against Mohammed Shami but in the 30th over bowled by Ravindra Jadeja, Smith hit a four and a six to build momentum. Smith hit two boundaries off the struggling Navdeep Saini and once again, he notched up his fifty in quick time. At the other end, Labuschagne was giving Smith wonderful support.
Steve Smith hit two boundaries off Mayank Agarwal as he raised his gear. After hitting two boundaries off Mohammed Shami, Steve Smith put on an exhibition against Jasprit Bumrah. The first ball was cut to sweeper cover for a boundary while the second ball was a slow delivery that was guided to the third man boundary. Smith ended the over in style by flicking a length ball to the deep midwicket fence. Smith walloped a six off Yuzvendra Chahal and he notched up his century in quick time.
Virat Kohli was not helped with Navdeep Saini having a horror day and in desperation, he had to turn to Hardik Pandya, who had not bowled in over 500 days in ODIs. Hardik Pandya kept the runs down and got the massive wicket of Steve Smith for 104. But, Labuschagne and Glenn Maxwell showed their class with some brilliant hitting. Maxwell notched up his fifty off 25 balls and ended the innings with two sixes. For the first time since 2013 Jaipur, all of Australia’s top order had gotten fifties. But, in Jaipur, they were blown away by Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal once again started aggressively but yet again, they failed to build on to their solid beginning. Dhawan was the first to go while Agarwal departed immediately. Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli revived the innings but Iyer was struggling to counter the short-pitched slow bowling from the Aussies.
Virat Kohli showed positive intent and was middling the ball well. More importantly, he was finding the gaps on a regular basis. The partnership between Iyer and Virat Kohli went past fifty and was looking good for a hundred but Moises Henriques bowled a short ball and Iyer hit it straight to the fielder at short midwicket. Kohli went past his fifty and non-chalantly flicked Mitchell Starc to deep square leg for a six as the left-arm pacer’s struggles mounted.
Virat Kohli looked good for a century after 14 months but on 89, he miscued a short ball from Josh Hazlewood and was caught by Steve Smith as the contest was effectively sealed. KL Rahul dazzled the crowd with some audacious shots off Starc and Cummins while Hardik Pandya struggled for momentum. Despite both batsmen getting lives, they could not capitalise on it as the asking rate mounted.
When Pat Cummins took Ravindra Jadeja and Hardik Pandya’s wicket, the game was sealed and Australia emerged the victors. For Virat Kohli and the team, the distractions for the side heading into the series might have played a part and they will now have to focus if they have to avoid a difficult couple of weeks in the making.
(With inputs from agencies)