Australia defeated India by 10 wickets in the second One-Day International to tie the three-match series at 1-1. An unbroken 121-run opening stand between Mitchell Marsh (66 not out) and Travis Head (51 not out) contributed to this victory.
Starc took full advantage of the favorable circumstances to dismiss India for 117 in 26 overs. His ninth five-wicket haul in ODIs, along with strong performances from Nathan Ellis (2/13) and Sean Abbott (3/23) prevented Indian batsmen from settling in during seaming and swinging conditions.
India has been totally stunned. The rain had an opportunity to fall. But India was hit by a number of storms. Starc comes first, then Marsh. Starc used the moving ball like a scalpel to slash open some of the Indian team’s scars as their batting order took on a brittle appearance. Marsh’s pulverizing show, while they were pursuing him, added salt to the wound. Once India lost the toss, they were never in the contest. As they travel further south to Chennai for the decisive battle, they will need to wash this off. Australia is in great shape and intends to keep up its impressive dominance.
Post-Match Conference:
Mitch Starc (Man of the Match): I have learnt the trade over the years. My rhythm has been good for a few weeks now. Last couple of nights, I got the ball to shape in the air and do a little bit off the wicket. Feeling in a good place, hopefully I can continue. It’s a role I play, being more attacking and bowling slightly fuller than some of the other guys. I can be slightly more expensive, but that brings in all the dismissals more, that’s the role I play. My conversations are a little different compared to someone like a Cam Green. Both the decks have helped the seamers. There was movement in the air in Mumbai as well. My game plan is to attack the stumps and bring in all modes of dismissal into play.
Steve Smith (Winning Captain): Was a quick one. Only 37 overs you don’t see that too often. Starc, with the new ball, put them under pressure. It was a nice start to the day. I didn’t know how the wicket was going to play. There was no real total in mind. It was about going out there and executing our skills and hopefully putting Indians under pressure, fortunately we were able to do that. It was one of those days and we were on the right side of it. Just that kind of a day when the nicks went to hand. The way Head and Marsh played at the start, they just kept going and we were able to bounce back after the last game. Don’t know about the catch of the century. Nice that I held on today. Fortunate I was able to hang on to it. It was a big wicket, Hardik is an unbelievable player.
Rohit Sharma (Losing Captain): If you lose a game, it is just disappointing. We didn’t apply ourselves with the bat. Didn’t put enough runs on the board. It wasn’t a 117 wicket. Kept losing wickets and that didn’t allow us to get the runs we wanted. Once we lost Shubman in the first over, myself and Virat got 30-35 runs quickly. But then I lost my wicket and we lost we lost a couple of wickets back to back. That put us on the back foot. It’s always tough to come back from that situation. Today wasn’t the day for us. Starc is a quality bowler. He has been doing it for Australia with the new ball. He kept bowling to his strength. Swung the new ball and took the odd ball away. Kept the batters guessing. Marsh has to be one of the top players going around when it comes to power hitting. He backs himself to do that every now and then. Definitely in top 3 and 4 when it comes to power hitting.
What went wrong for India? They lost Gill early. Then a flurry of fours. But post that the wickets carnival never ended to India’s bemusement. Starc was amongst the wickets and pocketed a fifer. India were just hapless and folded up for 117. Post that, it was the Marsh-Head show.
Travis Head : Nice to contribute, really good to get a partnership going. We were a bit settled today and took our time. Last game, I went hard early to push the envelope. It’s nice to have the big fellow (Marsh) at the other end when he hits them into the top tier. We were hoping that one of us gets away. It’s very rare that both of us go at the same time. Throughout my experience opening the batting, if one guy is going, you try to support that. Today it was a short total, we both felt like going. We played really calculated. It was a nice partnership, very enjoyable.
Mitch Marsh: It was a bit of fun. Always nice to get a good start when you’re chasing a small total like that. I was hoping Head would get off to a flier and I could play it slow. To be honest, I’ve been enjoying playing swing and batting up the order. (On Starc) He’s been brilliant, it is horrible standing at slip when he bowls because it flies at about 80 miles an hour off the edge. But it is great to see him bowl like this, we now have a rare chance to win an away series in India.
