Australia went down to India in the first ODI on Sunday and the series now moves to Eden Gardens in Kolkata for the 2nd match of the series on Thursday.
The Aussies got off to a great start in the first match after losing the toss and being sent into the field. Paceman Nathan Coulter-Nile had the hosts reeling at 3-11 before a strong partnership by Rohit Sharma and Kedar Jadhav got the Indians back on track.
The depth in their batting lineup was on full display as MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya, who came in at six and seven respectively, steered the Indians to a respectable score of 281 after their 50 overs. After that, the rain settled in.
The weather was on and off for the next few hours and when the play finally resumed, the Aussies target was revised to 164 off 21 overs. After losing Hilton Cartwright and Steve Smith within the first few overs, the Aussies never looked like reaching the revised score. Glenn Maxwell put up a fight but ultimately the Indian medium pace attack proved too good.
Weather could once again be the deciding factor at Eden Gardens on Thursday. There are concerns whether the ground staff will be able to prepare a playable pitch in time with persistent rain falling on Kolkata over the last few days.
If they do get on, it’s likely the Australian line-up will face some changes after facing some criticism for going into game one with an abundance of all-rounders. Hilton Cartwright seems to be the obvious choice to make way for a specialised top order batsmen, likely Usman Khawaja or Peter Handscomb.
Regardless of the 281 score line, the Aussie bowling attack actually performed quite well, so it’s unlikely that we’ll see any changes there apart from the possibility of Josh Hazlewood coming into the side on a rotation basis.
One thing that’s hard to look past when trying to pick a winner for game two is the fact that the Indian top order failed miserably with the bat and they were still able to post that score. If Kohli and co. can find any sort of form in Thursday’s game it’s hard to imagine them scoring under 300. Australia seem to lack the batting depth to go with them at the moment and there’s too much pressure on Steve Smith and David Warner to score runs.
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Jasprit Bumrah looked good with ball in hand on Sunday and while he only claimed one wicket he had the Aussie batsmen in the most trouble. He rarely goes wicketless in ODI’s and is a good bet to be India’s top wicket taker here.
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