India calmly executed a tricky chase to win the second ODI in Adelaide on Tuesday night, but a plucky performance from Australia continued their upward form curve in 50-over cricket.
Led by a superb 104 from superstar skipper Virat Kohli and a composed 55 not out from veteran MS Dhoni, the tourists scraped home in the final over of a thrilling match.
Australia set India 299 to win thanks to a classy hundred from the in-form Shaun Marsh and some late fireworks from all-rounder Glenn Maxwell.
The hosts’ green bowling attack then bowled with good discipline to force India to labour for their win, which squared the series at 1-1 heading into the decider at Melbourne on Friday.
So low have Australia sunk in ODIs over the past two years that fighting efforts like last night actually represent positive progress.
The Aussies entered this summer having won just two of their past 20 ODIs, their worst 20-match sequence in history. That included seven consecutive losses leading into the second ODI against South Africa in Adelaide ten weeks ago. Since then, they have finally started to show signs of improvement.
They beat the powerful Proteas in that aforementioned match in Adelaide, competed strongly in the series decider that followed in Hobart, and now have held their own in this series against the mighty Indians, who alongside England are considered the leading contenders to claim the World Cup.
Australia still have a long way to go to become a top team once more but, crucially, they seem to have regained their competitive edge. Prior to this summer Australia continually folded, turning in spiritless display after spiritless display.
While they lack the raw talent of opponents like India – due to the absence of the likes of David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood – Australia at least are scrapping hard. That was evident last night when the hosts fell to 2-27 after nine overs, leaving them in a deep hole.
Commonly over the past two years, they would have slid further from such a position and posted an uncompetitive total. But they ground their way out of trouble and then accelerated to reach a decent score.
The backbone of this innings was once again a mature knock by Marsh.
The West Australian continued his remarkable ODI form, which has seen him churn out four tons in his last eight matches.
Shaun Marsh is a different man in the canary yellow. (AFP/Ian Macnicol)
He’s notoriously nervy at the crease in Tests, which often causes him to bat in a stiffer, more robotic and less instinctive manner than he displays in the Sheffield Shield, which he’s dominated for years.
For some reason, that anxiety does not seem present when Marsh bats in ODIs. Instead, he looks loose, relaxed and confident, and makes the most of his generous ability.
Never is this contrast more evident than when Marsh plays spin. In Tests, the left-hander often gets himself into trouble against spin by playing neither fully back nor fully forward. In ODIs, he backs himself to be proactive, using his feet nicely and then rocking back deep into his crease to cut and pull when the spinner overcorrects their length.
He was impressive last night in the way he countered skilled spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Ravi Jadeja. In fact, Australia overall have played India’s spinners surprisingly well. The batsmen have floundered against tweakers in ODIs in recent years but have limited the impact of that Indian duo so far.
Together, Kuldeep and Jadeja have taken just four wickets at an average of 54 in this series, while going at 5.4 runs per over. It has helped that Australia’s middle order has been populated by four players who are comfortable against spin in white ball cricket – Marsh, Maxwell, Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis.
It also must be said that neither pitch in this series has aided the spinners. Australian tweaker Nathan Lyon is wicketless in the series so far, while conceding 109 runs from his 20 overs. The hosts were boosted last night by good efforts from their fifth and sixth bowlers in Stoinis and Maxwell, who combined to take 2-62 from 13 overs.
The only Aussie bowler who consistently relieved pressure was the one who was the most curious selection for this series – Peter Siddle. After two matches back in the team following an eight-year absence, Siddle has taken 1-106, conceding a whopping 6.62 runs per over.
While Siddle was a weak link, the remainder of the Aussie attack did an admirable job opposed to arguably the two greatest chasers in the history of ODI cricket – Kohli and Dhoni.
cricnoob
Guest
i think other than the Poms, none of the other sides seem to have a settled 11...
Steve Franklin
Roar Rookie
Sorry to say it cause the guy seems to be a pretty fair dinkum Aussie at heart but i don't think Langer can coach pigs to mud .
Steve Franklin
Roar Rookie
We should have won this game also, with about 3 or 4 overs to go Richardson bowls a short bouncer gets hit for four next ball a wide which in those 2 balls i reckon cost us the game. It's ok to bowl that rubbish to a tailender but not to a good batsman which he did and got belted. What i want to know is who is telling these so called elite bowlers to bowl all this short crap is it the captain,the coach,or is it just the brain dead bowlers own choice, well who ever it is they should be sacked from their jobs cause they obviously aren't cricketers.
terrykidd
Roar Pro
Yeah agreed Brian but it was pretty obvious during Game 1 that Maxwell was doing a lot of the field placing with Finch watching on.
Rob
Guest
They're West Ausssies so you can find fault with Maxwell but Marsh is faultless. It was happy hour and Marsh had to goes as did Maxwell. The 20-30 runs short could have come earlier with more urgency between the wickets. All great in hindsight ?
Rob
Guest
Lyon is a great spinner of the ball and extremely accurate. 9/10 In bowling smarts and variation he's probably 5/10. This goes right back to SA blocking him out for a draw years ago. I think Maxwell showed him up bowling round the wicket and tossing it up a little more. Bowling accurate with fielders in around the bat in Test conditions is probably a lot different to ODI's?
Matt H
Roar Guru
More a comment on the fickle nature of fans. A world beater one day and not so much the next. And he was lasted with the new ball. He came back better in later spells.
HB
Guest
On paper, Siddle looks like an ok pick for the one-day team. His list-A economy rate is 4.61 and his ODI economy rate is 4.86. That's better than pretty much all of the alternatives that are being mentioned here. But maybe his record doesn't reflect how he's playing now? Similarly, Nathan Lyon's record is better than his competitors'. He has a list-A economy rate of 4.84 and an ODI economy rate of 4.91. But again, maybe he's not playing at that level now? Neither of those guys will bowl teams out for you; they have strike rates of 46.7/52.9 and 44.7/52.1, so are only good for one, maybe sometimes two wickets per innings. But their competitors, though their strike rates are better, are not going to be a lot of help there either. Apart from Starc and Coulter-Nile, those guys will get you fewer than two wickets per innings on average as well. For the World Cup, at this stage I'd be choosing from: Mitchell Starc Nathan Coulter-Nile Nathan Lyon Ashton Agar Josh Hazlewood For this series, I'd be choosing from: Nathan Coulter-Nile Nathan Lyon Jason Behrendorff Ashton Agar Peter Siddle
JamesH
Roar Guru
I did say before the first game that I’d play Agar or Zampa ahead of Lyon. Although I also said I had doubts about Handscomb and he’s making me look silly.
Nudge
Roar Rookie
That’s a very good batting line up Ronan. Having Agar at 8 and potentially even Starc at 10 behind Cummins means that you can start to explode a few overs earlier knowing the depth is there. If we had that last night we would have won
Nudge
Roar Rookie
Smith’s one day form was phenomenal for 18 months, prior to his last one day series against England after the ashes. People have shorts memories and only remember the last time they saw him play
Nudge
Roar Rookie
Is last one day series might have been “toilet”. But his 18 months prior in one day cricket was phenomenal
Ben
Roar Rookie
Finch hasn’t scored as many runs over the last little while in one-day cricket to justify taking up a top-four spot. Does Finch remember what he said of Maxwell?
Ben
Roar Rookie
India don’t have 7 batsmen and they won. India have 2 openers that get them to a good start that helps the middle order. All we need is 6 proper batsmen and number 7 that can bat a bit. It’s the combination that we stuffed up.
Leuco
Roar Rookie
You are correct. The bunny has been found out and should simply retire from the game. Everyone will be onto him now. It’s sad to see.
Leftwhinge
Guest
Siddle's plight reminds me of another Victorian medium pacer, and now umpire Paul Reiffel. Both good wholehearted performers in their prime but completely without bite or menace at the fag end of their careers. Reiffel nearly cost Australia the 1999 world cup, and Siddle could cost you lot this time if somehow as a reward for his past services, he makes it to the team.
Ben
Roar Rookie
Next game he has to bat down the order at 7 and let Maxwell or stoinis to open with khawaja. We need to get a good start like India and I can’t see finch and Carey doing that.
Ronan O'Connell
Expert
Who would you play instead of Smith then Peter?
JD St George
Roar Pro
How is 1/59 getting pasted?
JD St George
Roar Pro
I actually feel like we're being very harsh on Lyon. Us ROARers have been calling for this moment for years and now when he gets lifeless tracks where no spinners have been doing well he should just be sacked?