Cricketing carnival was warmly welcomed at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati. This venue made it's debut by hosting their first ever international match. David Warner opted to field after winning the toss.
Jason Behrendorff (4/21) gave Australia a dream start with the ball as he got rid of two of the most dangerous limited-overs batsmen, Rohit Sharma (8) and Virat Kohli (0) in his first over itself. Skipper, David Warner continued with Behrendorff as he chose to extend his fiery spell and in response, the speedster got two more scalps to his name in the form of Manish Pandey (6) and Shikhar Dhawan (2). India was in a serious trouble after the early collapse. Then, Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni added 33 runs between them. This pair gave their all to steady the ship back but Adam Zampa had some other plans as he bamboozled MS Dhoni (13). Kedar Jadhav (27) looked the most reliable batsman until Zampa disturbed his furniture. Then in the quest of making a comeback Kuldeep Yadav (16) and Hardik Pandya (25) added a 33-run stand which took the home side past the 100 run mark. But Stonis and Tye sent this pair back to add more misery. Post that the Indian tail-enders handed their wickets to the Aussies as the hosts got all-out for 118 (20.0).
In reply to India's target, David Warner and Aaron Finch made their way in the middle. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah used the new ball well as they got rid of Warner (2) and Finch (8) early. Post that, Moises Henriques (62*) and Travis Head (48*) took their precious time on the pitch, executed their shots well and helped Australia triumph over the hosts to level the series 1-1.
The 3rd T2OI takes place at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Friday (13th October 2017). Team India will be eyeing to clinch the final match.
