India will look to bounce back from their opening defeat © Getty Images
Australia will be the more confident side when they take on India in the second One-Day International (ODI) at Gabba, Brisbane. They won the first match at WACA quite comfortably despite chasing a record 310 for victory. The Indian batting was very sound and the innings was composed very well with opener Rohit Sharma playing the lead role in the department scoring an unbeaten 171. Australia’s new-faced pace battery lacked the effectiveness usually associated with fast bowlers emerging from the country. Debutants Scott Boland and Joel Paris had very evident struggles against the established Indian batting line up. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia 2015-16, 2nd ODI at Brisbane
Apart from Rohit, Virat Kohli played a starring role in the Indian innings falling short of a hundred by about nine runs. The duo of Kohli and Rohit were involved in a massive 207-run stand for the second wicket as the Australian bowlers failed to extract much from the flat WACA wicket. India’s innings had a smooth flow to it throughout but perhaps with a platform as strong as they had, they left the final onslaught for a little too late. ALSO READ: India vs Australia 2015-16, 2nd ODI at Brisbane: Rohit Sharma vs Josh Hazlewood, Ishant Sharma vs Steven Smith and other likely key battles
In the bowling department India had absolutely nothing to cheer about barring Barinder Sran‘s inspirational debut game. Much in contrast with his Aussie debutant-counterparts, Sran was very accurate and even made good use of the limited resources the pitch offered him. He used his height to generate greater bounce and in process dismissed the dangerous opening duo of David Warner and Aaron Finch cheaply in his first spell, thus compounding India’s hopes for victory following the batting performance. ALSO READ: Australia likely XI for 2nd ODI at Gabba
However, his efforts were not replicated by the other bowlers. Umesh Yadav looked quite good in bursts but failed to maintain consistency over prolonged periods. Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a tight line throughout and was economical by standards of the day, but was never quite threatening enough to pick wickets. India’s decision to play two spinners backfired heavily. Both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were used by the Aussie batsmen to add momentum to their game.
George Bailey had an early reprieve when on naught as he got a nick of his glove of Sran’s bowling to the wicket-keeper down leg which the umpire failed to detect. From thereon, he settled into a fine rhythm with skipper Steven Smith and both went on to score match-winning tons. Australia will be very pleased with their batting effort in general but will be wary of their dealings with Sran.
India will most certainly feature a structural change in the bowling composition for the second game at Gabba. Perhaps, Rishi Dhawan could come in to assume the place of all-rounder thus replacing Jadeja. There could also be an inclination to bring Ishant Sharma into the playing team in light of his amazing record in Australia.
Australia will certainly see at least two major changes in the side. Opener Warner has been granted paternity leave for the birth of his second child, while all rounder Mitchell Marsh has been rested. Warner’s place could be assumed by Usman Khawaja who has been in stellar form of late. Australia may consider including John Hastings to the playing XI as guardian to the young pace attack that looked out of sorts in the opening game. Additionally, Australia may consider giving Kane Richardson a go at the expense of either Boland or Paris.
All said and done, the momentum and confidence gained from an opening win can’t be substituted by anything else and Australia holds this great advantage. India will be aware, however, that they had their moments in the first game and if they include an Ishant in the line-up, they could come out on the brighter side of the result. It promises to be another hard-contested battle between two quality sides.
Squads:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (c/wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Axar Patel, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Rishi Dhawan, Barinder Sran
Australia: Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Steven Smith (c), Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh (rested for 2nd game), George Bailey, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Wade (wk), James Faulkner, Kane Richardson, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Joel Paris, John Hastings, David Warner (withdrawn)
Time: 8:50 IST| 11:20 local | 3:20 GMT
(Rishad D’Souza, a reporter with CricketCountry, gave up hopes of playing Test cricket after a poor gully-cricket career. He now reports on the sport. You can follow @RDcric on Twitter)