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Indian Cricket Team won over Steve Smith's Australian team in the second ODI of the five-match series at Eden Gardens in Kolkata yesterday. Virat Kohli and Co. will now be ranked Number 1 in ODI rankings to go with their top spot in the longest format of the game.
The hapless Australians succumbed to a 50-run defeat, which marked their tenth consecutive loss in ODIs away from home.
Here are the hits and misses from the game.
#1 Hit: Virat Kohli
The Indian skipper, when scores a duck in an innings, usually goes on to score big in the very next innings. He did the same yesterday, following his second-ball duck in the first ODI of the series.
Kohli played cautiously in the initial stage of his innings, but got into his own soon thereafter.
He stitched a valuable partnership with right-handed opening batsman Ajinkya Rahane and built a strong foundation for the Indian innings to flourish in its latter stages.
He was unfortunate to get out on an excruciating score of 92. It was even more painful considering the fact that had he crossed the century mark yesterday, he would've overtaken Ricky Ponting to go to the second spot in the all-time centurions' list.
#2 Miss: Rohit Sharma
Indian opening batsman Rohit Sharma has not been able to make his mark on this series as of now.
He could only score 7 off 14 deliveries before falling to an impressive caught-and-bowled by Nathan Coulter Nile.
He scored a riveting cover drive on the third delivery of the second over, and it felt like the man from Mumbai would rekindle his love affair with Eden Gardens. However, he could manage just a single digit score before making his way back to the pavilion.
To add salt to his fresh wound, he even dropped a catch at first slip in the second innings of the game. The vice-captain had an excellent ODI series in Sri Lanka last month, and is sure to bounce back from this lean patch soon.
#3 Hit: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
If there is one thing that captain Kohli can rely on in every game, it's the seamless consistency from his opening bowlers: Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.
Kumar was in excellent nick in Kolkata yesterday. The swing on his deliveries kept creating problems for the batsmen on the crease. The right-arm medium pacer ended up scalping 2 wickets in his opening spell of the innings.
He was right on the money with the line and length of his bowling, while ensuring that he gives away no easy runs.
His terrific performance included 2 maidens in a 6.1-over spell. A spell in which he gave away just 9 runs and retained an economy of less than 2-runs per over.
He was reliable and precise throughout the innings.
#4 Miss: David Warner
David Warner's woes in Asia have continued to haunt him. He has been unable to get going in this series so far and struggled to handle the dual-attack from Bumrah and Kumar upfront.
He scored just 1 run in 9 deliveries before his misery ended when he edged Kumar to Rahane, who caught him at second slip in the fifth over of the game.
He looked unsure of himself throughout the Test series that Australia played in India earlier this year. It certainly looks like switching over to the shorter format of the game hasn't changed anything the left-handed batsman as of now.
This is Warner's first ODI series here, and he has just three games now to make a positive impact on his ODI numbers in the country.
#5 Hit: Kuldeep Yadav
Ever since making his debut in the Caribbean Islands in July this year, Kuldeep Yadav has done nothing but impress one and all with his limited-overs bowling.
Yesterday, the wrist-spinner picked up three crucial wickets. More so, the three wickets did not come in a usual manner, but in the form a well-structured hat-trick.
The chinaman bowler dismissed Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins in the 33rd over of the match to take away Australia's final chances of making something of the chase.
He bowled three different deliveries for the three wickets that he took, while becoming only the third Indian to add a 50-over hat-trick to their name. The googly that he bowled to dismiss Cummins was the best of the lot.
The youngster is now a real prospect for the ICC World Cup 2019.
#6 Miss: Manish Pandey
With scores of 0 and 3 in the first two games, right-handed batsman Manish Pandey is off to a nightmarish start in the series. He played 13 deliveries for the 3 runs that he scored in Kolkata yesterday, before perishing to the left-arm orthodox spin of Ashton Agar.
After getting a chance in the playing XI in India's tour of Sri Lanka last month, Pandey justified his selection with some swashbuckling performances. However, he has not been able to replicate the same in the Australia series.
It is important for the man to step up in the remainder of the series, as his spot in the side is still not permanent. Players like KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and even Ajinkya Rahane are waiting in the wings to grab onto the same.
He has to make sure that he retains his place in the side with consistent performances and makes a statement before Kohli and MSK Prasad the to make it to the playing XI for the ICC World Cup in England in 2019.
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