IND vs AUS: Marsh, Starc blow India away as Australia levels series in Vizag

From Saturday afternoon till a number of hours earlier than the match on Sunday, the town of Visakhapatnam had been receiving persistent rains, and there have been doubts about whether or not an entire recreation was even doable.

Thankfully for the capability crowd on the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium, the solar got here out simply in time to get the second One-Day International to go as scheduled. 

From then on, Mitchell Starc (5/53) ensured that even when there was a menace of rain later within the day, it might not matter a lot as he blew the India batting lineup away in nearly two and a half hours.

The left-arm pacer produced a effective show of swing bowling to shoot out the host for simply 117, establishing a thumping ten-wicket win for Australia within the second ODI. 

On a pitch that was below cowl until about a number of hours earlier than the beginning, Aussie skipper Steve Smith had no doubts about opting to bowl first after successful the toss. 

The sweating below the covers would have left sufficient moisture to help the pacers, and the Australian assault made full use of it, needing solely 26 overs to bowl out the Men in Blue.

India’s battle towards high quality left-arm swing bowling stood uncovered once more as Starc ran by way of the highest order like a sizzling knife by way of butter.

The 33-year-old struck off the third ball of the innings when Shubman Gill went for an expansive drive, taking part in away from his physique and hitting it straight to the purpose fielder. Skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli began nicely with a number of boundaries, whereas Starc struggled to search out his rhythm.

In the fifth over, the tall left-arm seamer hit his stride and eliminated Rohit and Suryakumar Yadav off successive deliveries. 

Starc discovered Rohit’s edge when the India skipper went for a drive on the up, with Smith taking catch after fumbling initially at first slip. On the following ball, in a carbon copy of his dismissal from Mumbai, Suryakumar was trapped plumb in entrance to a supply that swung and seamed into the right-hander at ferocious tempo.

Like Suryakumar, Okay.L. Rahul too was out leg-before to a supply from Starc that moved in sharply into him as he performed throughout it, decreasing India to 39 for 4 within the ninth over.

Nathan Ellis – who got here in for Glenn Maxwell – accounted for Kohli, who seemed effective till he performed throughout to a fuller supply earlier than having Ravindra Jadeja caught behind. 

Sean Abbott additionally chipped in with three wickets, together with that off Hardik Pandya, caught brilliantly by Smith in a single hand whereas diving full stretch at first slip. 

Fittingly, Starc completed the Indian innings when he breached Mohammed Siraj’s defence to take his ninth five-wicket haul in ODIs.

Chasing a modest whole, openers Mitchell Marsh (66 n.o., 36b, 6×4, 6×6) and Travis Head (51 n.o., 30b, 10×4) swatted the Indian bowling assault throughout the park with disdain as Australia romped residence in fashion in simply 11 overs to drive the three-match collection right into a decider in Chennai on Wednesday.