- Friday, December 08, 2023
Chasing a revised target of 317 in 33 overs after rain interrupted play, Australia are bowled out for 217
By: Chandrashekar Bhat
SHREYAS Iyer and Shubman Gill hit attacking centuries to help India thrash Australia by 99 runs in a rain-hit one-day international on Sunday (24) to clinch the series 2-0.
Iyer (105) and Gill (104) put on a dominant second-wicket stand of 200 to lay the foundations for India’s 399-5 after being invited to bat in Indore.
KL Rahul’s 52 and an unbeaten 72 by T20 sensation Suryakumar Yadav contributed to the mammoth total and the bowlers then combined to hand India an unbeatable lead in the three-match series.
The matches are a tune-up for the World Cup in India starting October 5.
Chasing a DLS revised target of 317 in 33 overs after rain interrupted play in the chase, Australia were bowled out for 217 in 28.2 overs.
Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja took three wickets each.
But the batsmen set up victory after a flying start and Iyer, 28, put doubts over his fitness to rest, hitting his third one-day century before being caught.
Iyer hit 11 fours and three sixes in his 90-ball knock.
The 24-year-old Gill, who hit 74 off 63 balls at Mohali in the first game, raced to his sixth ODI century and fifth this year with a single off Sean Abbott.
Gill’s knock ended when he was caught by wicketkeeper Alex Carey off Cameron Green. He hit six fours and four sixes in his 97-ball innings.
Ishan Kishan was dismissed for 31 before Rahul and Yadav propped up the innings with fluent knocks.
Green took two wickets but gave away 103 runs off his 10 overs.
In reply, Australia lost two wickets for just nine runs and were 56-2 when rain interrupted play for more than an hour and the tourists resumed with a new target.
David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne attempted to rebuild in their stand of 80 but the wheels came off the chase after their departure.
Ashwin broke the stand and then struck twice in one over to send back the left-handed Warner and Josh Inglis.
Green attempted to hit back but was run out, before Abbott led an unexpected charge with his 36-ball 54.
Number eight Abbott put on a ninth-wicket stand of 77 with Josh Hazlewood, who made 23.
The final ODI is on Wednesday (27) in Rajkot.
(AFP)
