India defeated Australia by 50 runs in the second ODI at Eden Gardens, Kolkata to take 2-0 lead in the 5 match series.Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav became the third Indian to take an ODI hat-trick as Australia were bowled out for 202 runs chasing a target of 253.
India won the toss and elected to bat first in the second ODI. Virat Kohli top scored for India with 92 runs off 107 balls. Kohli’s inning included 8 fours. Kohli along with Ajinkya Rahane added 102 runs off just 111 deliveries for the second wicket to get India post a total of 252 runs on the board in the first innings.Nathan Coulter-Nile andKane Richardson shared 3 wickets each for Australia while Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins took a wicket each.
Australia in reply didn’t start well as both the openersHilton Cartwright and David Warner got out cheaply. Skipper Steve Smith played well for his 76 ball 59 runs while Marcus Stoinis remained unbeaten on 62 runs off 65 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes. Stoinis ran out of partner as wickets kept falling from the other end. Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav completed a hattrick as hedismissed Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins in consecutive deliveries to achieve the feat. Bhuvneswor Kumar was economical as he finished with 3-9 from his 6.1 overs.
With this memorable feat, Yadav joined Kapil Dev (1991) and Chetan Sharma (1987) in a select club of Indians who have picked up a hat-trick. The victory was also India’s eighth in a row in ODIs.
“We didn’t feel like we had enough. We knew if we had a good start with the ball, we had a chance. We needed break throughs throughout. The wicket wasn’t that easy to bat on, all the batsmen felt that. Bhuvi’s spell was more important because they needed runs in the first 10 overs.” said Man of the Match Virat Kohli after the match.
Australian captain Steve Smith said”We were pretty happy restricting them to 250. I thought we did a good job with the bowling. However, the batsmen made poor decisions under pressure. Stoinis was pretty good at the end, probably my fault and Head’s fault, we both got out after getting set. It slowed up and spun more as the game went on. We need to make better decisions consistently.”
Match Summary:
India 252 (Kohli 92, Rahane 55,Coulter-Nile 3-51,Richardson 3-55)
beat
Australia 202 (Stoinis 62, Steve Smith 59, Bhuvneswor 3-9, Kuldeep 3-54)
by 50 runs