The Shubman Gill-led India national cricket team took on the Mitchell Marsh-led Australia national cricket team in the second game of the three-match series at the Adelaide Oval.
On Thursday, 23 October, Team India faced defeat against Team Australia by 2 wickets and faced defeat in the series. The third and dead-rubber ODI between the teams will be played on October 25 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
India flopped with bat and ball
India once again lost the toss and were invited to bat first. Captain Shubman Gill suffered his second consecutive failure as an ODI captain, while Virat Kohli was out for the second consecutive duck for the first time in his ODI career.
However, Rohit Sharma did not disappoint this time and played a good innings. He looked quite troubled at the beginning of the innings, but as the innings progressed, he improved.
Rohit ultimately finished his innings by scoring 73 runs in 97 balls with the help of 7 fours and 2 sixes. New ODI vice-captain Shreyas Iyer provided good support to Rohit by playing a brilliant inning of 61 runs, while all-rounder Akshar Patel made a brilliant contribution of 44 runs.
When things were all over for the Indian team after the batsmen were out, Harshit Rana (24*) and Arshdeep Singh (13) combined to take India to a good score of 264/9.
With the ball, India managed to get off to a good start by dispatching Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh inside 13 overs. However, Matthew Short (74) and Matt Renshaw (30) put India on the backfoot as both played aggressive cricket.
Cooper Connolly (61*) and Mitchell Owen (36) created further trouble for the Indian bowlers, who took some quick wickets in the end but allowed Australia to complete the chase in 46.2 overs.
We had enough runs on the board – Shubhman Gill
During the post-match presentation ceremony, Shubman Gill said that they had put a good score on the board, and fielding mistakes cost them the match. He said:
“We had enough runs on the board. It’s never easy when you give up a few chances to be able to defend that kind of total.
“In the first game, it (the toss) was more important because of the rain. But in this game, I wouldn’t say much because both the teams played almost 50 overs.
Never easy, coming back and playing some competitive cricket after a long time – Shubman Gill on Rohit Sharma
Shubman Gill further said that initially the pitch was difficult to bat on, but as the match progressed, things went well. He said:
“Initially the wicket was performing a little too well. But I think after 15-20 overs the wicket settled quite well.”
Talking about Rohit Sharma’s heroics with the bat, Shubman Gill lauded the former Indian skipper and admitted that he missed out on playing a big innings. He said:
“(About Rohit Sharma) It was never easy, coming back and playing some competitive cricket after a long time. But the initial phase was very challenging. Very happy with the way he batted. Struggled in the initial phase. I would say he really missed playing big innings.”
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