India bowled out for 252 runs in second ODI against Australia in Kolkata

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  • Hosts India took on Australia in the second game of the five-match ODI series at Eden Gardens in Kolkata after having taken a 1-0 lead courtesy of their 26-run win in Chennai.

    After severe rain lashed Kolkata for the past few days, the weather finally relented on Thursday with bright sunshine and high humidity the feature of the day so far.

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  • Virat Kohli named an unchanged playing eleven from the win in Chennai while Australia made two changes to the previous line-up.

    Kane Richardson came in for James Faulkner and Ashton Agar replaced leg-spinner Adam Zampa.

    Kohli won the toss and elected to bat first for the second time in the series on a pitch which has remained under cover for the most part of the days leading up to the game.

    Australia skipper Smith, playing in his 100th game, commented that he would have liked to bat first himself on the Eden Gardens pitch.

    After a brisk start by partner Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma failed to continue his dream run at Kolkata as he once again perished to Aussie pacer Nathan Coulter-Nile.

    The Indian vice-captain was caught by Coulter-Nile off his own bowling after attempting to drive a full-delivery on off-stump to be dismissed for seven runs.

    In walked skipper Kohli and he combined beautifully with Rahane as the two went about scoring at a decent rate without taking too many risks.

    As the runs started flowing, the high humidity began taking its toll on the batsmen and fielders alike. Matthew Wade was visibly in distress but the lack of another wicket-keeper in the Aussie eleven meant that he had to continue despite his ordeal.

    The two batsmen brought up their individual half-centuries as the partnership crossed the 100-run mark. However, the humidity took its toll on Rahane when he attempted a second-run at his skipper’s insistence only to be run-out.

    Rahane drove part-time spinner Travis Head towards deep-cover and was ambling through the second run before realising that the throw was coming towards his end. The tiredness in the batsman showed as he was caught marginally short of his crease before Wade removed the bails.

    Next man in Manish Pandey once again failed to get going after his second-ball duck in Chennai. The right-hander rocked back to cut a straight and quick delivery from spinner Agar only to be clean-bowled.

    Kedar Jadhav played some inventive shots during his short stay at the crease as he picked up two boundaries and a six in a 24-run innings.

    He was sent back to the pavilion by the returning Coulter-Nile after being caught at backward-point by Glenn Maxwell trying to slap a wider delivery.

    Kohli at the other end continued to pick up runs at will and was going along nicely at 92 before coming undone against Coulter-Nile in the most uncharacteristic fashion.

    Very rarely does the Indian skipper get out in the nineties but on Thursday he played-on to his stumps after attempting to run a much straighter delivery to third-man leaving the Eden Garden crowd stunned.

    The Aussie bowlers continued plugging away despite the humidity and the crowd was silenced one again when the ever-reliable MS Dhoni fell for just five after sending a cover drive off Richardson straight into Smith’s hand at short-cover.

    There would be a moment of controversy before the end of India’s innings before a short rain-interruption in the 48th over of the innings.

    A waist-high Richardson delivery was sent high into orbit by Hardik Pandya before Smith collected the catch as the rain came pouring down. Pandya had started his walk back to the pavilion before the umpire called a no-ball.

    Smith had thrown the ball to the bowler’s end straight after completing the catch to run-out Pandya out but the umpire refused to declare the batsman out as play was stopped due to rain.

    The decision remained upheld much to the Smith’s dismay and the players walked back into the middle after the rain relented quickly.

    Pandya failed to repeat his Chennai heroics as he was caught in the deep off a full-toss in the final over of the innings for a 26-ball 20.

    The Aussie bowlers bowled with good control to peg India back at the death as India limped over the 250-run mark as they were bowled out in the final delivery of the innings to finish at 252 runs.

    Coulter-Nile and Richardson finished with three wickets apiece for the visitors.

    Score – India 252 all out (50 overs)

    Virat Kohli – 92(107)

    Ajinkya Rahane – 55(64)

    Nathan Coulter-Nile – 3-51(10 overs)

    Kane Richardson – 3-55(10 overs)

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