India Vs Australia 2017 2nd ODI: 5 Major Talking Points Of The Game

Following a win on Eden Gardens soil, India now have climbed up to untrodden heights. The 2nd ODI against Australia has been dramatic as well as thrilling to a certain extent. But considering the way of tackling the maze and grabbing the victory, the Indian team has had a superior run. The Australian side had all their intentions intent on the fightback, on their second meeting with the hosts. Unfortunately, India’s dominance through the Kohli-Rahane duo turned out to be the breaking point of the Aussies solidified attack.

Coming to the proceedings and winning the toss at India’s favorite hunting ground, Eden Gardens, Kolkata. The Kohli led side has witnessed an initial tough walk over the visitors through Rohit’s dismissals. But later on with skipper Kohli’s run hunger and Rahane’s establishing stance made India’s job easier. The Australian camp might have had their first smile by wiping the dangerous Rohit Sharma out of the crease. But the Kohli-Rahane duo soothed the wound very nicely.

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A fighting 92 from Kohli combined with Ajinya Rahane?s 55 helped India muster 252 on the board. Kane Richardson and Nathan Coulter-Nile bagged three wickets each to rock the Indian innings. In the run chase, Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a beautiful spell to remove both openers. Later, Kuldeep Yadav?s hat-trick set up the base for India?s win in the game.

Here are the 5 major talking points:

Kohli-Rahane’s magical salvage:

Opting to bat first the Indian team was not at all hesitant. Rohit’s quick pavilion return at 7 floated an unwanted dark cloud over India’s head. But his opening partner Rahane formed a lucrative partnership with skipper Kohli at the crease. Considering the impetus of the game Kohli did play a supporting knock whereas Rahane took the burden of running the scoreboard. Eventually, Rahane ended his onslaught at 55 before getting dismissed whereas Kohli went on to complete his fifty as well and perished on the score of 92 in the end. Hence both of them cementing their partnership of 102 runs for the second wicket set the high-scoring base.

Coulter-Nile’s hard striking:

Most impressive bowling figures possessed by Nathan Coulter-Nile has again been on the show-stealing endeavor from the start of the match. His outing, yesterday, showed his ongoing form with the ball. He foxed Rohit Sharma to have him caught and bowled early on in the game. Later, he sent Kedar Jadhav packing on 24. But the big fish was caught when he took the key wicket of Virat Kohli on 92. Despite taking him on for runs towards the end overs, his exploits helped Australia to send India on the back foot at the key juncture in the game. He finished with figures of 3/51. He was well supported by Kane Richardson, who scalped 3/55 in his quota of 10 overs.

Bhuvi magic:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar has been the key asset for the Indian team in the recent past. While the other fast bowlers dug into their pace bowling attack, Bhuvi has shown what swing bowling could essentially do. Bhuvneshwar bowled an exceptional spell of fast bowling to keep the Aussies in check in the early overs. He accounted for the dismissal of both the Australian openers. He bowled a maiden first up and then followed it up with a one-run over. Another maiden followed. En route his first three overs, he dismissed David Warner and Hilton Cartwright for identical scores of 1. His figures read 3-2-1-2.

Kuldeep Yadav’s historical standout:

Young chinaman Kuldeep Yadav has been on his giant strides in international cricket. He continued to impress yet again and went on to take a hat-trick in the game. The UP lad ran through the Australian lower middle order to put India in a commanding position. He embraced himself as the only third Indian bowler in the history of the game to take an ODI hat-trick. The moment arrived in the 33rd over of the game when he dismissed Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar, and Patrick Cummins. With the feat, he became the first Indian bowler to take a hattrick since 1991 after Kapil Dev. He returned with figures of 3/54 in his 10 overs.

Marcus Stoinis? fightback during Australia’s shaky innings:

Following Bhuvneshwar Kumar rocking the Australian top order, the focus shifted to Aussie skipper Steve Smith and Travis Head. Both batsmen showed great character to settle in with the former scoring 59. Head also got 39 to his belt. However, team India bounced back with a flurry of wickets in the middle overs. Once Kuldeep Yadav shocked Aussies with his hattrick, they were left reeling on 148/8. However, it was a certain Marcus Stoinis who kept them alive in the game. Stoinis scored an unbeaten 62 off 65 balls with 6 fours and 3 sixes to his name. He was unfortunate to have been left stranded at one end with team India bowling the visitors out for just 202.