India vs Australia: Virat Kohli hails 'exceptional teamwork' after a thrilling win in Nagpur
Kohli himself led from the front by scoring his 40th ODI ton.
India’s thrilling win over Australia in the second ODI in Nagpur would have been left the team-management mighty pleased. Just a couple of months away from the ICC World Cup, the Men in Blue once again proved their credentials with a clinical effort. And such was skipper Virat Kohli’s excitement over seeing the performance that he took to Twitter to praise the team within minutes of completion of the game.
Kohli, as on most of the occasions, once again led from the front on a pitch where stroke-making looked very tough for most of the batsmen. While the likes of Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu, Kedar Jadhav as well as ever-dependable MS Dhoni failed to get going, India’s talisman looked class apart. Kohli scored a sublime century, hitting 116 to help India recover from several collapses and post a challenging total of 250.
He was well supported by Vijay Shankar (46) who hit a flurry of boundaries to ease the pressure on his skipper as the two helped India recover from 75 for 3 with an 81-run stand. Towards the end, Kohli shared a 67-run stand with Ravindra Jadeja before the hosts lost their last four wickets for just 12 runs to get all out for 250.
With momentum on their side after the way India’s innings ended, Australia further strengthened their grip on the game when their openers Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja added 83 runs for the second wicket. However, Kuldeep Yadav and Kedar Jadhav dismissed the two in quick succession to turn the contest on its head.
From thereon, the fortunes swung from one side to another before Vijay Shankar defended 11 runs in the final over when he conceded just two and castled half-centurion Marcus Stoinis and Adam Zampa to fire India to a superb eight-run win.
And Kohli did not waste much time in taking to Twitter and praise his men for the teamwork. “Stellar performances, exceptional teamwork!” wrote the 30-year-old.
India continue winning streak
India, meanwhile, extended their winning run over Australia in Nagpur. This was the fourth time the two teams met on this ground and so far India have won all the encounters. The hosts will now be looking to take an unassailable lead when they lock horns against the visitors in the third game on March 8 in Ranchi.
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