Team India suffered an embarrassing 10-wicket loss against Australia in the second ODI on March 19 (Sunday) at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Mitchell Starc breathed fire with the ball as India's famed batting line-up capitulated miserably and the team was bundled out for a paltry score of 117 in just 26 overs. The Baggy Greens gunned down the target in 11 overs with 234 balls to spare.
After the game, captain Rohit Sharma reflected on his team's abysmal performance which paved way for the visitors to level the series 1-1.
"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," Rohit told host broadcasters at the post-match presentation.
None of the Indian top-order batters apart from Virat Kohli (31 runs off 35 balls) could manage to get a start, and as a result, the expectant crowd inside the stadium and fans watching on the televisions, were left dejected. Shubman Gill (two-ball duck), Rohit (13 runs off 15 balls, Suryakumar Yadav (golden duck), KL Rahul (nine runs off 12 balls) and Hardik Pandya (one run off three balls) couldn't handle the venom unleashed by the Aussie pacers.
"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," the Indian skipper added.
Starc was the star with the ball as he finished with figures of 5/53 in eight overs, including a maiden over. Sean Abbott (three wickets) and Nathan Ellis (two wickets) gave Starc the perfect support.
Mitchell Marsh put on a clinic of power-hitting during Australia's run chase and remained unbeaten on 66 runs off 36 balls. The right-handed batter smacked six fours and as many sixes in his pulverising knock. Travis Head scored a half-century as well and remained unbeaten on 51 runs off 30 balls.
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