Virat Kohli once again led from the front as he brought up his 39th ODI hundred while MS Dhoni hit his second consecutive fifty to guide India over the finishing line.
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India chased down 299 courtesy of a fine partnerhisp between Virat Kohli and MS.Dhoni. (Source: AP)
India beat Australia by six wickets in the second one-day international (ODI) at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday to level the three-match series at 1-1. Skipper Virat Kohli once again led from the front notching up his 39th ODI hundred while MS Dhoni hit his second consecutive fifty to guide India over the finishing line. Chasing a target of 299, the India got off to a good start before Shikhar Dhawan departed in the eighth over. That brought Kohli to the crease.
Right from the start of his innings, Kohli made batting look easy as he found the gaps in the field, and instead of going for the big hits, scored in ones and twos. In his innings of 104 (112 balls) Kohli scored more than 50 per cent of his runs in singles and doubles. As the chase got trickier towards the end, Dhoni was joined by Dinesh Karthik and together they took India to victory. Needing 7 off the final over, Dhoni lofted Behrendorff for a huge six before hitting the winning single.
Earlier, Australia won the toss and opted to bat in the searing heat. The host team was unchanged from the previous game, while India brought in debutant Mohammed Siraj in place of Khaleel Ahmed.
Shaun Marsh scored his seventh ODI century before India pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar produced a brilliant spell in the death overs to limit Australia to 298/9.
Marsh’s innings was a commanding one. He arrived at the crease when the scoreboard read 26/2, but he then went on to score 131 runs (11 fours and three sixes) to guide Australia to a competitive total. His partnership with Maxwell ((48 off 37 balls) fetched 94 runs off 65 balls.
Bhuvneshwar (4-45) and Mohammed Shami (3-58) exerted themselves on proceedings with the new ball, and didn’t let the Australian openers get off to a good start.
However, Siraj had a woeful debut as he failed to get Maxwell’s wicket twice, and ended up conceding 76 runs in his spell of 10 overs.
Towards the end of Australia’s innings, it was Kumar, who returned to account for both Maxwell and Marsh in the 48th over, and dented the team’s momentum towards 300, as the Australians lost a flurry of wickets.
Nathan Lyon (12 not out) smacked 10 runs in the last three balls as they scored 93 runs in the last 10 overs.
(With inputs from PTI)
