IND – 237-1 (38.3)

Player of the Match – Rohit Sharma

Player of the Series – Rohit Sharma

India once again lost the toss. India lost the last 18 tosses. This time, Australia chose to bat first.

Australia starts quite well. Mitchell Marsh and Head gave a comfortable start, but then Siraj took Head’s wicket. Head scored 29 runs. Axar bowled out the Australian captain with a strict line and length. Marsh scored 41 runs.

Mathew Short and Renshaw built a partnership. Short got out on Washington’s ball. Short scored 30 runs. Renshaw hit a fifty and was trying to increase the scoring got LBW by Washington. Alex Carey scored 24 runs and got out on Harshit Rana’s ball, but all credit goes to Shreyas Iyer for this wicket. Iyer took an amazing catch running backwards. 

Harshit Rana showed his flair today with his hit-the-deck bowling, taking 4 wickets. Washington got 2, and Prasidh, Kuldeep, Siraj, and Axar picked 1 wicket each.

India’s start was also good, and both the openers looked good while batting. But Josh Hazlewood, with his test match line-length, got the Indian captain’s wicket. Gill scored 24 runs.

Ro-Ko ends all the discussion and noise. Both looked so comfortable while batting. Rohit scored 121 runs in 125 balls, and chase master Virat Kohli scored 74 runs in 81 balls. Ro-Ko gave fans a happy moment in the last ODI. India won by 9 wickets.

AUS – 265-8 (46.2)

Player of the Match – Adam Zampa

India vs Australia, 2nd ODI, on Thursday, October 23, at Adelaide Oval, Adelaide.

Australia won the toss and opted to bowl first. India and toss are like the North and South poles. India lost 17 tosses in a row. India’s start was not good. The Indian batter struggled a lot. Struggled and ended early for Captain Shubman Gill, Xavier Bartlett took his wicket. Virat Kohli once again goes for a duck on Xavier’s ball.

Rohit and Shreyas built a partnership and stabilised the innings. Rohit got out on a poor ball from Starc. Rohit scored 73 on 97 balls. Shreyas Iyer got bowled out while trying to hit six to Adam Zampa. Iyer scored 61 runs on 77 balls.

Axar scored 44 runs, and at the end of the innings, Harshit Rana and Arshdeep hit some crucial runs. India posted a total of 264 runs. Mitchell Starc took 2 wickets, Xavier took 3 wickets, and Zampa picked 4 wickets.

Australia’s start was also not great. Arshdeep gave them a tough time and took Mitchell Marsh’s wicket. Head also got out on Harshit Rana’s ball. Matthew Short and Renshaw built a partnership to stabilise the innings. India dropped 2 catches of Short, which cost the match. India again came to the game with the spin, but Cooper Connolly and Mitchell Owen changed the game in just a few overs with their fine hitting.

India last played in Australia during the 2020-21 tour, where they played 3 ODIs. Australia won 2 matches, and India won 1. The last ODI series between the two sides was held in India in 2023-24, which India won 2-1.

Australia’s last ODI series was against South Africa, which they lost. But in the final match of that series, they showed their batting firepower, scoring a massive 431 runs and bowling South Africa out for 155, winning by 276 runs. India, on the other hand, has not played an ODI since winning the ICC Champions Trophy Final against New Zealand.

Why is this Series Important?

This series carries extra excitement for fans because Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, two of India’s biggest cricketing icons, will be playing. They have served India for a long time and have won many crucial matches. Both have a huge fan base across the globe.

Since retiring from T20Is and Tests, ODI is the only format where both are active. Fans don’t know how long they will continue, so this series is special. Seeing both legends in blue again has created a huge buzz among cricket lovers.

Squads

India Squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer (VC), Axar Patel, KL Rahul (WK), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Siraj, Arshdeep Singh, Prasidh Krishna, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Yashasvi Jaiswal.

Australia Squad: Mitchell Marsh (C), Xavier Bartlett, Alex Carey (WK), Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis (WK), Matthew Kuhnemann, Mitchell Owen, Josh Philippe (WK), Matt Renshaw, Matthew Short, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa.