Sydney: Steve Smith’s quick-fire 104-run knock propelled Australia to a mammoth 389 for four in the second ODI against India, which they defended easily to secure a decisive 2-0 lead in the ODI series.
A dejected Indian skipper Kohli, said, ‘They have outplayed us. We were ineffective with the ball, and didn’t hit the areas. They have a strong batting line-up, they know the conditions and the angles well. The chase felt steep, and one or two wickets would take the RRR up so we had to keep hitting. They took the chances that they created in the field, which was the difference. Hardik felt okay to bowl. Initially just thought of trying for a couple of overs but he felt good and bowled a couple more. And he gave away a bit of a bowling plan with his off-cutters (smiles), but credit to them, they used the dimensions well. Even Rahul or Shreyas, if they carried on, it could’ve gotten us across the line with Hardik to come.’
On his part, Aussie captain Finchie, said, ‘It was a perfect performance with the bat. There was no extra talk or game plan. Very pleased to wrap it up in two games and win the series. A quicker innings from me would’ve been better, but it’s a bit of a trade-off and I think we set the foundation. Smithy was incredible as usual, and Warner got it off the middle everytime as well. Moises bowled really well defensively including his cutters, and as Virat said, we got a bit of a blueprint from Hardik, by taking the pace off the ball.’
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli on Sunday became the ninth Indian cricketer to make 250 appearances in One-Day Internationals (ODIs). He reached the milestone during the second ODI of the ongoing three-match series against Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
The 32-year-old, who made his ODI debut on August 18, 2008 against Sri Lanka, has also represented India in 86 Tests and 82 T20Is.
Overall, Sachin Tendulkar holds the record for making most ODI appearances for India. Tendulkar played 463 ODIs in his stellar career in which he scored 18,426 runs with the help of 49 hundreds. Besides, he also played 200 Tests and 1 T20I scoring 15921 and 10 runs respectively.