If it was India’s batting which sorely disappointed in Perth, it was their bowling which let them down more at Adelaide Oval on Thursday. Set a target of 266, Australia won by two wickets with 22 deliveries remaining to wrap up the series with a game to spare, courtesy Matt Short’s career-best 74 and handy cameos from the pair of Cooper Connolly (61 not from 53 balls) and Mitch Owen (36 off 23).
A 118-run partnership between Rohit Sharma (73) and Shreyas Iyer (61) – the only Indians to make fifties – was followed by Axar Patel making a fighting 41 as wickets started to tumble, but 265 was still a decent total at Adelaide Oval. However, India erred once again by not picking their premier white-ball spinner Kuldeep Yadav, where in the opposite ranks Australia’s wrist-spinner Adam Zampa played a big role with four wickets.
Special mention also for Josh Hazlewood who bowled ten wicketless overs and bowled 43 dot balls to exert early pressure on India, while Xaviert Bartlett reaped the rewards.
The first ten overs of India’s innings brought just 29 runs for the loss of the current and fading past of India’s batting. With Rohit all at sea in an attempt to survive the Powerplay block, the alarming dot ball count got to Shubman Gill, who advanced towards Bartlett and tried to clear mid-off but ended up being pouched by Mitchell Marsh, falling to his right. India were 17/1 in the seventh over.
That brought out Virat Kohli, with an average of 65 and five international centuries at Adelaide Oval. He lasted three balls, out for a second successive duck, lbw to an in-dipper that he played all over with minimal footwork. A double-wicket maiden over from Bartlett.
Rohit’s second boundary was a streaky outer edge to third man when he tried to whip over midwicket, while Shreyas Iyer had several airy wafts outside off stump. Bartlett got the ball to swing around, boundaries were hard to come by, and so Rohit and Iyer were forced to rely on singles and the odd double. There was enough juice in the surface to keep the pacers in the game, and this meant that the batsmen had to judge the bounce and movement.
The introduction of Owen’s military medium pace allowed Rohit the chance to free his arms, and two sixes sailed over square leg in a 17-run 19th over. Iyer had by this time settled into a groove with 29 from 34 deliveries and a couple on-the-go boundaries saw him start to dominate.
Rohit looked in the mood for destruction, which is when Marsh went back to his strike bowler Starc. Almost immediately, Starc had his man when Rohit miscued a hook shot to Hazlewood at fine leg.
Zampa continued his penchant for troubling India with four wickets, the first of which was Iyer for 61 who, the ball after hitting a lofted cover drive, missed a loopier delivery and was bowled. Next to go was KL Rahul who went back in his crease to pull the legspinner but missed the delivery entirely.
Bartlett won a third wicket when Washington Sundar whipped the ball to Hazlewood on the deep, before Zampa took two in the 45th as the innings stalled further. Axar tried to smash a six over on the longest boundaries in world cricket only to look on as Starc held a very neat rebound catch on the long-off boundary, taking the ball over his shoulder inside the ropes, throwing it up to himself and then coolly stepping back inside to catch it a second time. Then it was Nitish Reddy’s turn to charge out and be stumped.
Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh lifted India from 226/8 to past 250 with five fours in the space of a couple overs, of which three went to the allrounder Rana. Zampa’s last over cost 16 with Rana driving and cutting three boundaries, and the Indians fans took particular delight in Arshdeep’s two fours. Bartlett pulled things back for Australia with a four-run 49th over to end his day with 3/39, and then Starc conceded four in his last while bowling Arshdeep.
India did well to remove Marsh and Travis Head for 11 and 28 respectively, but Short proved the biggest threat. Dropped on 23 and 55, the right-hander hit four fours and two sixes during his 78-ball 74 which set the pace for Australia’s chase. Matt Renshaw contributed a 30 off 30 in a stabilizing partnership, after which the chase briefly slowed as Axar and Washington got some purchase. But not having Kuldeep as an attacking spin option hurt India, for their seamers were easy pickings.
After Short mistimed a short ball from Rana, the pair of Connolly and Owen wasted little time in finishing the task at hand. Connolly took his time to get set, but once he did the shots started to flow. Drives and cuts and pulls hurried him to a maiden ODI half-century off 42 deliveries, while Owen came out swinging.
Owen hit Rana out of the attack and then took down Axar with four and six in an innings that swung the momentum back from India, who looked stunned at this assault. When Owen was out, hitting Washington to long-on, the asking was 19 from 45 balls.
Arshdeep and Mohammed Siraj picked up a wicket each to keep the chase interesting, but Connolly’s exceptional innings proved the decisive factor.
