IND vs AUS | Bengaluru ODI Takeaways - Steve Smith, the only anchor in Rohit Sharma led Bengaluru boat

IND vs AUS | Bengaluru ODI Takeaways - Steve Smith, the only anchor in Rohit Sharma led Bengaluru boat

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BCCI

Despite Australia getting off the right start in the series, their plot towards the end fell apart, with India attacking the visitors on all-fronts in the decider at the Chinnaswamy. All of this happened after Australia won the toss and elected to bat first and could only put up 286 on board.

Steve Smith is here to stay at No.3

Following the success in the first ODI, Australia’s top-order has succumbed under the pressure and has lost the plot. Partly, due to the initial seam and movement generated by the Indian bowlers and partly due to lack of foot movement from David Warner. Hit and miss, yes and no, two terms that could define Australia’s batting performance in Bangalore. Both with the bat and with their running between the wickets, the top order was in shambles. Steve Smith’s yes ended in Aaron Finch getting sold down the river and visibly frustrated after the Australian skipper looked in fine touch. The trend followed immediately after the skipper’s dismissal when Smith nearly ran Marnus Labuchagne at the other end in the span of three overs. 

However, Smith alone ensured that the engine kept running with his fuel-like-runs against the tough Indian attack. Tick, tock, Smith block. A rare boundary here and there was the tone set by Smith during his partnership with Labuschagne. After scoring his fifty, Smith accelerated towards the latter part of the innings and scored his first hundred in three years in the ODI format. After his hundred, Smith went all-out and attacked every bowler with some over-the-top shots, including a helicopter which reminded the RCB fans of MS Dhoni’s innings against their side in the last IPL. 

A rare blip in Aaron Finch’s captaincy

Five overs, one maiden and ten runs - read Josh Hazlewood’s first spell at the Chinnaswamy, which traditionally has been a batting paradise. And yet, he had to wait till the 6th over before getting the new ball in his hand. Despite the presence of world’s top white-ball bowlers in the form of Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc, it was the third bowler Hazlewood who was troubling the openers with his out-swingers. The 29-year-old not only bowled well to get the batters beaten outside the off-stump but also was the best bowler suited to bowl in the conditions. 

Furthermore, in the middle overs, Finch made his second mistake by taking Ashton Agar out of the attack and bowled one over of Marnus Labuschagne which helped India accelerate. The tight overs between Agar and Adam Zampa was easily negated with an 11-run over. Another instance in the span of one over after bringing Agar back into the attack was bringing himself on to bowl. In that over, the skipper bowled a short-delivery which sat perfectly for Rohit to whack him over the cow-corner for a massive 90m six, making life easy. 

Well, what was he even thinking? Oh! If you think this was bad, it is always a good time to bring back the point that Mitchell Starc batted ahead of Ashton Turner, Alex Carey and Ashton Agar. After leading the series 1-0, Finch’s captaincy has cost Australia the series against India, with his naive bowling change and ordinary batting setup. 

Chef Rohit Sharma’s love for Australia and Chinnaswamy

Before the game, the biggest mistake that I could do was to write off Rohit Sharma. Well, he started preparing for the big meal against Australia with some delicate shots in the powerplay in a similar fashion to a chef cutting the vegetables. He picked up all the spices required against the spinners with a shot here and there. However, since Labuschagne got the ball, Rohit went pro-explosive and cooked the meal on full flow against the part-timers. The fun did not end there as he continued his meal against the skipper Finch who served him the platter to choose from.

Following that, Rohit lost his fellow chef KL Rahul, however, continued to add glitter to the dish. And for deserts, it was Hazlewood’s second spell where he hit sixes like they were ice-creams from the grocery store. 

Chef Rohit Sharma had arrived early in the day and by the end of the day served the 35,000 people in the crowd a real meal and for Australia a lesson not to take the right-hander lightly. Australia gave the right-handed the apt ingredients for him to showcase an episode of ‘MasterChef Australia.’ Australia were dealt with their own dish that they served the home side in the opening game in Mumbai. 

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