Australia beat India by two wickets in the second ODI at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday and thus confirmed victory in the three-match series. The 22-year-old Cooper Connolly remained unbeaten on 61 off 53 balls as he shepherded Australia past the finish line while Matthew Short scored 74 in 78 balls as the hosts chased down a target of 265 with 22 balls to spare.
Australia seemed to be clearly on their way to the series win during a 59-run stand between Connolly and Mitchell Owen which came in just 39 balls. That stand ended in the 43rd over with Owen falling to Washington Sundar. While Australia needed only 19 runs to win from 45 balls at the time, Arshdeep and Siraj struck in the 45th and 46th overs to give India the faintest of hopes of turning it around.
India earlier finished with a score of 264/9 batting first. Veteran opener Rohit Sharma, notably, was among the runs in what was just his second innings in over seven months of international cricket. The 38-year-old was dismissed for just eight runs in the first ODI and had some good fortune early in his innings on Thursday, notably surviving a big appeal for LBW. Rohit then dug in, unlike what he has done in recent years in the format, and ground out 73 off 97 balls. His effort was part of a 118-run partnership with Shreyas Iyer, who himself scored 61 in 77 balls.
India were ultimately made to pay for giving Short a couple of chances during the Australian chase. The batter was dropped while he was on 23 by Axar Patel and then on 55 by Siraj. Captain Shubman Gill, who fell for nine runs earlier in the day, said after the match that it was important to hold on to those catches, especially considering India had just about the right am0unt of runs on the board.
IND vs AUS 2nd ODI – Live Cricket Score, Full Scorecard
Brief scores: Australia 265/8 beat India 264/9 by 2 wickets
