Skipper Virat Kohli struck a century and M.S. Dhoni an unbeaten fifty as India beat Australia by six wickets in the second one-day international to level the series 1-1, at the Adelaide Oval on January 15.
Chasing a challenging 299 to win, India overhauled the target with four balls to spare.
The series-deciding ODI will be played in Melbourne on January 18.
Brief scores: Australia 298/9 in 50 overs (Marsh 131, Maxwell 48; Bhuvneshwar 4/45)
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli(c), Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni(w), Dinesh Karthik, Ravindra Jadeja, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami
Australia: Aaron Finch(c), Alex Carey(w), Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Nathan Lyon, Peter Siddle, Jhye Richardson, Jason Behrendorff.
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Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s inability to set the pace during middle overs remained a major cause of concern when India take on Australia in a do-or-die second ODI on Tuesday in their bid to keep the three-match series alive.
Hardik Pandya’s sudden suspension on disciplinary grounds affected the balance of the batting order, which was apparent during team’s 34-run defeat in the opening match despite vice-captain Rohit Sharma’s 22nd hundred in the 50-over format.
Dhoni’s 51 off 96 balls and failing to rotate the strike has brought to focus the rejigging that skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri will have to fret upon.
Jasprit Bumrah is India’s resident yorker specialist but in his absence, the team management has entrusted the task of firing in the toe-crushers on his new-ball partner Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Bhuvneshwar was seen bowling in the nets keeping a shoe at the base of the stumps in order to perfect his yorker ahead of the second ODI against Australia at Adelaide on January 15.
The UP seamer, who rarely bowls yorkers like Bumrah, is trying to add the delivery in his repertoire in order to avoid getting hit in the slog overs.
