India vs Australia Star Sports 2nd ODI 2013 - Report

Rohit Sharma’s (141 off 123 balls) third ODI century, Shikhar Dhawan’s (95 off 86 balls) game-changing knock and Virat Kohli’s (100 off 52 balls) brutal assault – that produced the fastest ODI century by an Indian – gave India a historic win against Australia in the second ODI in Jaipur. The Men in Blue chased down a mammoth 360 – the highest target chased by India in ODIs. With a nine-wicket win, India drew level 1-1 with Australia with five matches to go in the series.

Dhawan and Sharma gave India just the start they needed. After surviving the accurate and quick opening bowling of Mitchell Johnson and Clint McKay, the duo settled down nicely on the batting track to put up 176 runs in 26.1 overs. (Also Read: India vs Australia Star Sports 2nd ODI 2013 - Stats Highlights)

Dhawan got a couple of reprieves – he was dropped by ‘keeper Brad Haddin on 18 and survived a close stumping chance on 42 – and capitalised on the slice of luck. The left-hander, who has a penchant for the pull and the hook, negated Australia’s short-ball tactics by scoring fluently on the leg-side. To fuller and wider balls, Dhawan scored through the cover area by bringing out the back foot punches and drives. The Australians kept pitching it short and Shikhar kept playing his favourite shot – the pull. He messed with their bowling strategy that had worked well for them in the first ODI. That helped Rohit and Virat play their natural games.

Rohit Sharma, after warming up with typically elegant strokes, dropped anchor when Shikhar got into the destructive mode. He was sensible and patient throughout his innings, living up to his talent. He caressed the ball, rather than bashing it, and there was nothing lazy about his elegance. He paced his innings very well and batted with a calm mind.

Rohit lost Shikhar in the 27^th over and was joined by Virat Kohli, who wasted no time in ensuring that India were abreast with the required run-rate. He took over where Shikhar had left – a four through midwicket and a six over long-off to Faulkner were followed by two more hits for maximum off Xavier Doherty and McKay.

With 156 runs needed in 20 overs and nine wickets in hand, the Indian batsmen went into T20 mode. Virat, in particular, was in a rather murderous mood. He unleashed an array of lofted drives and heaves to fetch his seven sixes. He also used one of his favourite shots – the inside-out drive – with great effect.

Earlier, the run-fest started when the Aussie openers, Aaron Finch and Phil Hughes, got their team off to a solid start after their skipper won the toss. During their partnership of 74 in 15.2 overs, the duo complemented each other. The left-right combination worked well to disturb the bowlers’ line as Hughes was the perfect ice to Finch’s fire.

When on 26, Finch got a lifeline as Yuvraj dropped a fairly simple catch at point. The batsman pulled, punched and drove his way to his third consecutive fifty of this tour. He brought up the half-century with a six off Vinay Kumar over the square-leg region. On the next ball, thanks to Raina’s athleticism and presence of mind, a direct-hit found Finch short of his crease.

Hughes continued to play the grafter, now in the company of Shane Watson. As the man at the other end dealt in boundaries, Hughes kept the scoreboard ticking over and scored a sedate 83 off 103 balls. Watson, on the other hand, made merry against the Indian spinners, carting them over the midwicket fence. Of his six fours and three sixers, only one came against a pacer – Vinay. Ashwin, Yuvraj and Jadeja shared the brunt of the others. He was eventually dismissed by Vinay in the 32^nd over, caught at long-on.

It was now Bailey’s turn to join the bash and he came in with a more attacking mindset than he did in the first ODI. The accumulator took a backseat as the striker took centre stage. He was particularly harsh on Ishant Sharma, smashing him for five boundaries and a six. Jadeja was pummeled for a couple of biggies and a four. The Australian skipper toyed with the Indian bowlers in the slog overs to bring up 122 runs in the last 10 overs. He finished with an unbeaten 92 off just 50 balls.

The individual scores of the top-five Aussie batsmen read 50, 83, 59, 92* and 53. In the process, the Indians dropped two catches and conceded at least 15 extra runs in the field.

The Indian bowlers were all over the place. Vinay Kumar’s (9-0-73-2) ploy of banging it short to the Aussie top-order batsmen at his modest bowling speed backfired. Ishant Sharma (9-0-70-0) struggled to get his yorker right and treated the batsmen with a flurry of full-tosses. R Ashwin (8-0-50-1) looked lost and confused as he tried too many things at the same time. He lacked any kind of rhythm – either bowled too short or over-pitched – and invited big shots off him. The part-timers – Ravindra Jadeja (10-0-72-0) and Yuvraj Singh (4-0-35-0) – were feasted on. Bhuvneshwar Kumar (10-0-54-0) was the only Indian bowler who came out of the Aussie innings with respectable figures.

Man of the Match: Rohit Sharma for his 141 off 123 balls, including 17 fours and four sixes

Dhoni: "I think it's one of the best chases you will see, irrespective of how good the track was it's never an easy task to chase 360. I told the guys to just go out there and be expressive, keep your shape when hitting big and they did that. All of the guys batted brilliantly and I am very happy. When you chase these totals you need to keep your composure and not just go for the bit shots all the time, most of the shots today were proper cricket shots. We need to improve our bowling, the margin of error is too much at the moment so that's one area we will look at."

Bailey: "I'm not sure what to feel that was some pretty awesome batting. We could look at our bowling but to be fair to India that was just awesome batting. Everything we tried the ball went harder and further and they did it comfortably in the end. With 360 on the board we needed a few early wickets, we could aways do things differently but sometimes you just have to take your hat off and say well played."

source: bcci.tv