With 1-0 up in the ongoing 3-match ODIs against India, Australia has a chance to pocket the series in the ongoing second ODI at Sydney Cricket Ground, in Sydney. Once again, the hosts capitalized on the opportunities from the first delivery, and this time, the Aaron Finch-led side managed to better their last ODI’s performance as they posted a mammoth total of 389 runs in 50 overs at the expense of four wickets.
Opting to bat first, Australia cruised their way to the 50-run mark in 8 overs, which is their second consecutive wicketless partnership in the powerplay, and eventually added 142-runs to the opening stand. Openers Aaron Finch (60, 69b) and David Warner (83,77b) dealt with boundaries since the first over and stitched their fifth hundred run partnership in ODIs against India – the most by a pair for Australia.
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Even after Finch and Warner’s dismissal, the scoring rate didn’t fall down for a moment for the Aussies as the likes of Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne did the honors of ensuring boundaries at regular intervals. Smith and Labuschagne forged a 136 run stand for the third wicket, with the former blasting his way to 62-ball 100, his second ton in the ongoing series and third ton in the ODIs played this year..
Smith’s departure while trying to slash out to point to Hardik Pandya’s delivery brought in an in-form Glenn Maxwell, who then unleashed yet another carnage, this time, scoring an unbeaten 63 off 22 deliveries, striking at a rate of 200-plus, with 4 fours and 4 sixes.
Maxwell and Labuschagne struck an 80-run partnership that witnessed the former toying along with the Indian attack with lofted hits while the latter relied on the grounded shots. In the final over, Maxwell clobbered two back-to-back sixes off Navdeep Saini’s delivery to get the side past the 380-run mark, and eventually, giving a target of 390 to chase in 50 overs.
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Mohammed Shami (1/73) and Jasprit Bumrah (1/79) dismissed Finch and Labuschagne in 23rd and 49th overs, respectively. Hardik Pandya bowled just four overs but got the crucial wicket of Smith and ended with figures of 1/24. Saini (0/70) and Yuzvendra Chahal (0/71) couldn’t scalp a solitary wicket in their 7 and 9 overs, respectively.
Team India needs a fiery start to the innings, plus, they need to ensure that they maintain a consistent run rate throughout with wickets in hand to get close to the total and possibly level the series 1-1.
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Here are some of the top tweets that surfaced after Australia’s daunting exhibition in the first innings –
