Australia end India's 17-year unbeaten run in Adelaide, chase down 265 runs to seal series
The India vs Australia series was supposed to be about Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma's comeback to international cricket after seven months. But the hosts have spoiled the party in just two matches and sealed the series in Adelaide as Shubman Gill has conceded his debut ODI series as captain with a game to go. Australia chased down 265 runs in the second ODI in Adelaide and even though they lost eight wickets, the hosts always seemed to be in control of the run-chase. This also turned out to be India's first loss in Adelaide since 2008 in the ODI format.
Cooper Connolly and Matthew Short were the stars in the chase for the home team as they notched up vital half-centuries, and the former also remained unbeaten till the end while also scoring winning runs. Mitchell Owen also played his part, smashing 36 runs off just 23 balls as Australia reached home in the 47th over of the innings.
India didn't give up till the end as their bowlers kept chipping away with wickets but the target wasn't enough to put the Aussies under pressure. For India, Harshit Rana, Arshdeep Singh and Washington Sundar picked up two wickets each but their efforts weren't enough in the end.
Rohit Sharma top-scored for India
Earlier, India lost the toss for the 17th consecutive ODI and had to bat first in testing conditions. The ball was doing a lot early on and that led to Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli getting out early for nine and 0 runs respectively. However, Rohit Sharma survived the early phase, only to rewind the clock and score runs with some exquisite strokes. He notched up his 59th fifty and just when it felt that he was set to score a big knock, Mitchell Starc dismissed him for 73 runs.
During his brilliant knock, Rohit also became the third highest run-scorer for India in ODI cricket, surpassing Sourav Ganguly. Shreyas Iyer also scored a half-century but got out at the wrong time and that hurt India the most who were reeling at 223/8 at one stage despite Axar Patel's superb cameo of 44 runs.
However, Arshdeep Singh and Harshit Rana did well in the last few overs to take India past the 250-run mark and set a target of 265 runs for Australia. Adam Zampa was the star for the hosts who picked up four wickets on his comeback, having missed the series opener. However, the score didn't prove to be enough as Australia sealed the series with a comprehensive performance.
Brief scores: India 264/9 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 73, Shreyas Iyer 61; Adam Zampa 4-60, Xavier Bartlett 3-39) lost to Australia 264/8 in 46.2 overs (Matt Short 73, Cooper Connolly 61*; Arshdeep Singh 2-41) by two wickets.
