Read it in Hindi

Read it in Marathi

Let bygones be bygones! This will be the message in the Indian dressing room as we head into a nail-biting ODI series finale at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on March 22.

A short and not-so-sweet game of cricket at Visakhapatnam saw Australia register a dominant 10-wicket victory, thanks to Mitchell Starc’s rip-roaring five-wicket haul (5/53) and Mitchell Marsh’s blitzkrieg of 66 runs in just 36 balls.

Starc hits bullseye

Mitchell Starc was a dangerous spectacle in the first ODI, and more so in today’s game with his ninth career ODI fifer and second against the Men in Blue.

The Aussie pacer used the early swing on offer at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium to claim four wickets in the powerplay, including that of our last match’s hero KL Rahul for just nine runs.

Steve Smith, the field master

Stand-in captain Steve Smith ticked a specific box today, fielding. As a fielder, he showed a great work ethic when catching Rohit Sharma (13) and Hardik Pandya (1). The catch dismissal of Hardik was a screamer, and we are saying this as a cricket fan.

As skipper, his ideal map of positioning the fielders prevented hosts India from scoring too many runs. Talk about a good tactician!

Kohli, the lone scorer

The Indian batters were scrambling for answers against the spells bowled by Starc, Sean Abbott (3/23) and Nathan Ellis (2/13). Four players managed double-digit scores, with Virat Kohli being the best with 31 runs.

On a ground where he is the highest run-getter with 556 runs (until this game), and famously showed one of his early chase-master displays (118 not out vs AUS, 2010), he was dismissed early by Ellis after failing to read his bowling lengths.

Mitch Marsh-alls the Indian bowlers, again

For the third time in the running, and second in the series, Mitchell Marsh toyed with the Indian bowlers. “It was a bit of fun” is what he described of his 36-ball 66 in the post-match interview.

Travis Head played a strong support role with a composed 51 in 30 deliveries, which was packed with 10 boundaries. Paltan, we have been in such a situation before and are known to never give up till the end. Shout your support for the boys as they regroup to bounce back and make it 2-1.

Match in Brief:

Australia 121 for 0 (Mitchell Marsh 66*, Travis Head 51*) beat India 117 (Virat Kohli 31, Mitchell Starc 5/53, Sean Abbott 3/23) by 10 wickets