Australia vs India, 2nd ODI - Who Said What

It was yet another Virat Kohli century in the winning cause in the chase for India as they levelled the three-match series. But the Adelaide Oval witnessed something different which the Indian fans were waiting eagerly for and it was MS Dhoni finishing the game. Though it wasn’t a winning shot, the veteran smacked a six to leave only a solitary run to be scored off the last five deliveries and duly took a risky single in the end which officially won the game for the visitors.

Having said that, nothing should be taken away from Dinesh Karthik who played a timely knock to release the pressure off Dhoni. Kohli had previously done all the hard work to notch up a brilliant 39th century of his career. He got out at a critical stage in the game but knew that India had the resources to win the game for them. Things got close in the end, but Dhoni was calm as ever and made sure he won the game for his team by remaining unbeaten on 55 off 54 balls.

Marsh bats superbly

Earlier in the day, Shaun Marsh’s superlative ton helped Australia post a brilliant total of 298 runs for the loss of nine wickets. He got decent support from the other end with the likes of Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis batting well. However, it was Glenn Maxwell who upped the ante in the death overs which propelled Australia to 281/4 after 47 overs.

This is where Bhuvneshwar Kumar‘s experience came to the fore. His variations triggered a mini-collapse in the last three overs as the hosts could add only 17 runs. In a close game like this, even this was the difference as the Men in Yellow looked destined to go beyond 310 at one stage with Marsh and Maxwell batting so well.

Man of the Match and India captain, Virat Kohli said:

Very pleased. We wanted to try and restrict them in the end. To get them (Maxi and Marsh) in two balls was outstanding for us. Those breakthroughs were crucial. That meant we were not chasing 330. Bhuvi was outstanding with the ball, he came back and brought us in the game towards the end.

Vijay Shankar is in, so that’s gives us couple of options to play around with. Backing 5 bowlers and getting job done is always a pleasing thing for a captain. The way Australians were batting, we really pulled things back. You look for little moments to pump you up, I try and get into that zone.

Every time we have a target on board, I try to stay as aware as possible in recognising when to strike. When it comes off it looks nice. I try and keep things simple. You have to take calculated risks. Hopefully, I can keep helping the team. It was a really tough day, you saw MS in the end, he was tired as well.

You need a good day’s rest. There is no doubt that he shouldn’t be a part of this team. Tonight was an MS classic. Only he knows what’s going through his mind. He calculates the game so well. He backs himself to hit those big hits. Hats off to him and Dinesh as well.

He came in and showed the right kind of intent. MS was as composed as ever. We try and help each other (MS and himself). Tonight was special for us.

Australia captain, Aaron Finch said:

I thought we hung in there really well. They batted really well and you have to keep taking wickets and at the end it was always tough. When Dhoni is there we knew we had to get both of them out (Kohli and Dhoni). Credit to India, they played well. We played very well as well. Overall, it’s a good game of cricket.

Opening the batting and not getting enough runs, its one of those things I reckon. Always tough when you are not getting runs personally. Obviously bit easy when you are scoring runs and leading by example. Gotta be consistent with your game.

He (Shaun Marsh) hung in there and then all clicked and to get that score in grueling conditions and the heat was really pleasing. I think it would have been nice for Jhye (Richardson) to bowl right at the end.

At the end in ODI cricket if you’d got in-batters and especially against experienced batters like MS, it’s always tough. Always great playing cricket at the Home of cricket (MCG). It’s going to be great series as if it isn’t already and hoping to make it 2-1 at the MCG.

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