Australia vs India 2018/19, 2nd ODI: 4 Reasons why Australia lost the match

After winning the first ODI in a convincing manner, the Aussies were looking to win the series with a victory against Kohli’s India at the Adelaide Oval. Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to bat first on a flat surface. India dropped Khaleel Ahmed in favour of Mohammed Siraj while Australia did not make any changes to their lineup.

The openers departed early for Australia while Khawaja disappointed again. Shaun Marsh and Handscomb put on a decent partnership before Jadeja got of Handscomb with a brilliant direct hit from backward point. Marsh looked at ease throughout his innings and finished with 131 runs.

Chasing 299, India got off to a blistering start before Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed by Behrendorff. Rohit Sharma departed after a well made 43 while Rayudu looked set before throwing away his wicket to Maxwell. Kohli got to his 24th century while chasing and Dhoni finished the proceedings in style. Here are the 4 reasons why Australia lost the match:

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#1 Australia’s opening woes

Aaron Finch

Ever since David Warner was banned, Australia has tried a few combinations at the top but nothing has worked for them. In the ongoing ODI series, Alex Carey and Aaron Finch have opened the innings but both of them have looked unsettled before getting dismissed cheaply.

The Australian limited overs skipper has lacked consistency in this tour and yet again in this match he looked uncomfortable at the crease before throwing away his wicket. Bhuvi and Shami did a perfect job with the new ball by bowling a stump to stump line and did not allow Finch to free his arms. Both of them utilised the new ball well and consistently bowled inswingers to Finch.

Finch has the habit of planting his front foot across and leaving a big gap between bat and pad. That weakness resulted in his fall yet again as he inside edged an in-ducker onto the stumps. Alex Carey was on the receiving end of a perfectly directed bouncer from Shami and top-edged it to Dhawan at midwicket.

#2 Virat Kohli’s brilliant hundred

Virat Kohli

When it comes to chasing totals in limited overs cricket, no one in the history of this game can match the achievements of Virat Kohli. He continued his incredible record while chasing by notching up yet another century in the second innings.

The inning was a typical Virat Kohli knock as he found the gaps with utmost ease and also made life easy for Dhoni at the other end as he took a few balls to settle.

Once he got to his half-century, he started accelerating in a controlled manner and got to his century by pushing a slow delivery to midwicket. But the extremely hot conditions at the Adelaide Oval troubled Kohli as he looked tired during the latter part of his innings.

The fatigue finally got to him as he departed while trying to play a flick and holed out to Richardson at deep midwicket. This was a controlled knock from Kohli and paved the way for India’s victory.

#3 Lack of a limited overs spinner

Nathan Lyon

Ever since Brad Hogg retired, Australia have been unable to find a proper limited overs spinner and this problem has persisted in this series as Lyon could not have any sort of impact on the game.

Nathan Lyon is a world-class Test bowler but the way he bowls is pretty one dimensional and that makes life easy for batsmen in limited overs cricket. His lack of variations was evident in his bowling today as he kept bowling outside the off stump even when the batsmen were easily rotating the strike.

Whenever the off-spinner tried pushing back his length, Kohli punished him by fiercely cutting and pulling. The field he set for his bowling were also very conservative and maybe he could have attacked more when MS Dhoni came to bat. To thrive as a finger spinner in the modern game, the bowler has to be smart and unpredictable but Lyon is not the perfect match for the job.

#4 Lack of wicket taking fast bowlers

Peter Siddle

The performance of Jhye Richardson came as a relief for many Aussie fans as many feared that the inexperience and lack of pace in this attack will find it hard to control the Indian batsmen.

On a slow pitch at the SCG, the slowers balls of the Aussie quicks worked well but this wicket at Adelaide was flat and the Indians had the time to adjust their shots according to the pace of the delivery. Peter Siddle was very expensive in the match and Richardson could barely trouble the batsmen with his variations.

Behrendorff bowled decently but none of the above fast bowlers had the consistency or the pace to trouble the experienced Indian batsmen. Australia badly needs a strike bowler like Mitchell Starc or Pat Cummins to instil doubt in the minds of the opposition batsmen. Even Billy Stanlake could prove to be their wicket-taking bowler as he has the pace and bounce to trouble the batsmen.