Australia Take 2-0 Lead as India Fall Short in Thrilling Adelaide ODI

Australia won a close match by 2 wickets at Adelaide Oval and lead the 3-match series 2-0. India played better than in Perth but couldn’t beat Australia at home. India lasted until the 47th over but fell short of the target. This is India’s first ODI loss at Adelaide Oval in 17 years.

Earlier in the game, Mitchell Marsh won the toss and opted to bowl first. Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Xavier Bartlett made life difficult for the Indian top order, with Hoff beating Rohit Sharma's both edges for fun. Bartlett dismissed Shubman Gill for 9 and Virat Kohli for his second duck in a row in the 7th over to push India on the back foot.

Rohit and Shreyas Iyer hit respective half-centuries and added a 118-run third-wicket partnership to steady the ship. Starc broke the stand by removing Rohit for a hard-working 73 off 96 balls. Shreyas hit 61 off 77 balls, but Adam Zampa cleaned him up and also knocked over KL Rahul in quick succession. Axar Patel (44 off 41) played a neat knock, but lacked support with Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy failing big time. India were reeling at 226/8 and falling away in the death overs, but a brilliant fightback from Harshit Rana (24* off 18) and Arshdeep Singh (13 off 14), adding a 37-run 9th wicket stand, helped India to 264/9 in 50 overs.

Australia Clinch 2-0 Series Lead as India Fall Short at Adelaide Oval

For Australia, Zampa finished with 4/60, Bartlett finished with 3/39, and Starc picked up 2/62. Hazlewood went wicketless but conceded only 29 runs in his 10 overs. Mohammed Siraj and Arshdeep Singh bowled tight new-ball spells and saw Marsh and Travis Head struggle up front. Arshdeep got rid of Marsh just when the Aussie skipper tried to be the aggressor. Harshit Rana came into the attack and removed Head for 28 in his first over.

Matthew Short took the responsibility and made full use of the two dropped catches to slam his 3rd ODI fifty. He steadied the ship with a 55-run partnership with Matthew Renshaw (30 off 30), before Axar Patel (1/52) knocked over the Queenslander and Sundar cleaned up Alex Carey to put some pressure back on the hosts.

Short kept playing his natural game and got to his career-best 74 off 78 balls. He added a calm 55-run stand with Cooper Connolly, who played a pivotal role in this win for the home side.

When Rana (2/59) dismissed Short, India were still in the game, but Mitchell Owen came out all guns blazing to shut the door for the tourists with his riveting 36 off just 23 balls. Owen and Connolly were involved in a 50+ partnership, and that turned out to be crucial for the Aussies. Sundar (2/37) got rid of Owen before Arshdeep Singh (2/41) and Siraj (1/49) removed Bartlett and Starc to drag the game down to the wire, but Connolly (61* off 53) held his nerves with only single figures required and stood tall with his maiden ODI fifty.

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