Australia held their nerve in a tense finish to beat India by two wickets in the second one-day international (ODI) at Adelaide on Thursday, sealing the three-match series 2–0 with another match remaining. Aussie prodigy Cooper Connolly, playing a mature knock under pressure, finished unbeaten on 61 off 53 balls*, guiding Australia past the target of 265 in 49 overs.
Australia were struggling at 132/4 before Matt Short (74 off 78 balls) steadied the innings. A late blitz innings from Mitchell Owen (36 off 23 balls) revived the chase, but his dismissal gave India hope. Connolly, however, stayed calm and collected, sealing the match with four balls to spare.
India suffers another batting collapse after Virat Kohli goes for a duck again!
Earlier, India were off to a disastrous start after being sent in to bat. Shubman Gill (9) fell early before Virat Kohli registered his second consecutive duck, both wickets claimed by Xavier Bartlett (3/39) in a fiery new-ball spell. This is the first incident where the former Indian captain has gone out for a duck consecutively.
A 102-run partnership between Rohit Sharma (73) and Shreyas Iyer (61) helped India recover, but once leg-spinner Adam Zampa (4/60) broke through, India’s middle order crumbled again. KL Rahul (13), Sundar (12) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (8) fell cheaply.
A fighting 37-run ninth-wicket stand from Harshit Rana (24) and Arshdeep Singh (13) lifted India to 264/9, a respectable total but ultimately not enough.
With India having lost the first two matches of the three-match series, Australia will head into the final game at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) aiming for a clean sweep. It may be noted that Team India has avoided being whitewashed in full ODI bilateral series of three or more matches since 2000, except the recent 2024 loss to Sri Lanka, where the Men in Blue lost the series 2-0, with one match being tied.
India should give a proper send off to Virat