AUSTRALIA beat India by two wickets in Adelaide on Thursday to seal the three-match one-day series with one game left.
Matt Short scored 74 and Cooper Connolly hit his maiden ODI half-century with an unbeaten 61 as Australia chased down India’s 264 for nine with 22 balls remaining.
India’s innings was built around captain Rohit Sharma’s 73. Short, who was dropped twice, led Australia’s chase before Connolly and Mitch Owen, who made 36, saw them through.
Australia had earlier won the rain-affected opening match in Perth by seven wickets. The final game will be played in Sydney on Saturday.
"It's awesome and rapt to have won the series," said Australia captain Mitch Marsh, who had won the toss and opted to bowl first.
"(Josh) Hazlewood was unbelievable, the whole bowling unit kept trying to pick up wickets and awesome batting. We'll certainly enjoy the series win."
Australia made a slow start with Marsh falling for 11 to Arshdeep Singh after an attempted big shot. Travis Head followed soon, edging Harshit Rana to Virat Kohli for 28.
Short and Matt Renshaw then steadied the innings, adding 55 runs with quick singles. Renshaw was bowled for 30 by Axar Patel, while Alex Carey was dismissed for nine, sweeping Washington Sundar.
Short reached his third ODI fifty before falling to Rana, caught on the boundary as he tried to accelerate.
Owen’s power-hitting, which included two fours and three sixes, brought Australia close to the target. Despite some late pressure, they completed the chase comfortably.
"I think we had just enough runs on the board... it's never easy to defend those totals when you drop a couple of catches," said India captain Shubman Gill.
"There was a little bit in the wicket initially, but as the ball got older it got better to bat on."
Earlier, Josh Hazlewood opened with 13 dot balls, but it was Xavier Bartlett who gave Australia the first breakthrough.
In for Nathan Ellis, Bartlett dismissed Gill for 12, caught by Marsh at mid-off. Kohli, who had made a duck in Perth, fell for another duck — trapped lbw by Bartlett — leaving India at 17 for two. It was the first time in his ODI career that Kohli was dismissed for two consecutive ducks.
Rohit steadied the innings and brought up his 59th ODI fifty, with Shreyas Iyer providing support. The pair added 118 runs before Mitchell Starc dismissed Rohit for 73, caught by Hazlewood in the deep.
Iyer made 61 before falling to Adam Zampa, who also took the wickets of KL Rahul (11), Axar Patel (44) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (8), as India finished on 264 for nine.
(With inputs from agencies)
