In a cricket match between India and Australia in Indore, some remarkable performances took place. Shreyas Iyer scored a century. Shubman Gill also scored his fifth century in one-day cricket in the same year. Suryakumar Yadav played exceptionally well, hitting 72 runs in just 37 balls. R. Ashwin took three wickets for India. Because of these great performances, India won the match very convincingly with a lead of 99 runs when the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method was used to adjust the target due to rain interruptions. This win also secured India’s victory in the ODI series, with a 2-0 lead.

The Indian batsmen hit 31 boundaries (fours) and 18 big hits over the boundary (sixes) on a pitch that was good for batting. They scored a total of 399 runs for the loss of five wickets.

However, Australia didn’t have as much success in their batting. They faced difficulties mainly because of Prasidh Krishna, who was playing in place of the rested Jasprit Bumrah. Later in the game, after a second interruption due to rain, Australia struggled against the spin bowlers. They managed to score only 217 runs before all their players were out. The difference in performance between the two teams was quite significant.

In the afternoon, Shreyas Iyer and Shubman Gill teamed up and managed to score 200 runs together. They did this in just 164 balls, and this showed that India was in control during the first 30 overs of their batting innings. In the final 20 overs, KL Rahul, Suryakumar Yadav, and Ishan Kishan played well to add more runs to the total. KL Rahul scored 52 runs, while Suryakumar and Ishan Kishan contributed 31 runs each. This strong finish set a very high target for Australia to chase, which was a record in this match.

Iyer had a bit of bad luck in the previous match in Mohali, where he got out for just 3 runs. But in this match, he made a strong start by hitting five boundaries (fours) in his first 14 balls. Just before the rain break in the first inning, Shubman Gill also started playing well. Together, they managed to score 55 runs in 29 balls, and by the tenth over of the game, India had reached a score of 80 runs for the loss of one wicket. Even when the fielding team spread out on the field, Iyer and Gill continued to play strongly. Gill, in particular, was excellent at hitting the ball straight down to the ground.

This helped him go from 9 runs in 19 balls to reaching a half-century in only 37 balls. Similarly, like Gill, Iyer also scored fifty runs, and he did it by hitting a six after facing 41 balls. During overs 11 to 20, they scored at a rate of 7.8 runs per over because the boundaries were close and the pitch was good for batting. This performance allowed India to reach a score of 158 runs for the loss of just one wicket. The only time they slowed down a bit was when they were approaching their centuries, but that was only for a short while.

Iyer, who was experiencing cramps, scored his third century in One-Day International (ODI) cricket during the 30th over of the innings. The entire stadium cheered and clapped to celebrate this achievement. However, he got lucky when Sean Abbott, an Australian player, dropped a catch that he could have taken. But unfortunately, Iyer couldn’t stay for much longer and got out after scoring 105 runs from 90 balls.

Both KL Rahul and Ishan Kishan, who batted at positions 4 and 5 in the batting order, began their innings by hitting sixes to score their first runs. Rahul was particularly aggressive and hit two more sixes, with one of them flying over the tallest stand near deep midwicket. Their partnership was worth 59 runs and came off just 33 balls, which was an excellent continuation of the previous centuries scored by their teammates. However, Kishan was eventually dismissed by Adam Zampa after scoring 31 runs.

In the early part of the first inning, it seemed possible for India to reach a total of 400 runs, especially because they had plenty of wickets left. However, Australia managed to slow down the game during a few overs in the final powerplay. When the match reached the 43rd over, India’s score was 311 for the loss of 4 wickets, and their run rate was not as high as they would have liked.

Suryakumar, however, quickly fixed that small problem. In the 44th over, he hit four consecutive sixes off the bowling of Cameron Green, which added 26 runs to the score. Meanwhile, KL Rahul got out after scoring 52 runs off 38 balls. But Suryakumar was in great form. In the 47th over, he played with Sean Abbott and scored 17 runs, which helped him reach his second fifty of the series. He did this in just 24 balls.

Australia had a tough day while bowling, even though they didn’t make many mistakes. This is typical when you play cricket in Indore. This stadium is very tough on bowlers, and we saw that today. A newcomer named Spencer Johnson gave away 61 runs in eight overs, and Sean Abbott was hit for 91 runs in 10 overs. Cameron Green took 2 wickets but gave away 103 runs, which means he became the fourth Australian bowler to give away over 100 runs in a One-Day International (ODI) match.

At the beginning of the chase, Prasidh Krishna played a crucial role by getting rid of two Australian batsmen, Matthew Short (who scored nine runs) and Steven Smith (who couldn’t score any runs), with consecutive deliveries. This early success put pressure on the Australian team. David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne were trying to stabilize the innings, but then there was another rain break, and the match was shortened to 33 overs. Due to this adjustment using the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method, the new target for Australia became 317 runs, which seemed even more challenging to achieve.

After the game resumed, R. Ashwin started bowling, and he used a variety of clever techniques. With one of his deliveries, he got David Warner, who bats right-handed, out by hitting the stumps in a way that made the umpire give him out leg before wicket (lbw). With another tricky delivery, he bowled Marnus Labuschagne and knocked down his stumps. Ashwin’s third delivery was too good for Josh Inglis, who tried to sweep the ball but couldn’t succeed against Ashwin’s skillful bowling.

The pitch was now turning a lot, which was quite different from how it behaved earlier in the afternoon. Both Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were making the ball move in tricky ways for the batsmen. It seemed like Australia was in a difficult situation. When Jadeja bowled out Carey and Green got run out carelessly, Australia didn’t have much hope left, and they were mainly just trying to score some runs for pride.

Sean Abbott, who batted at number nine for Australia, played a valuable inning. He scored 54 runs in just 36 balls. At a point when Australia’s score was only 140 runs for the loss of eight wickets, his innings filled with boundaries helped Australia get past the 200-run mark. Josh Hazlewood also played a supporting role. Abbott hit a six against Ashwin to complete his fifty in 29 balls. Although his innings didn’t change the outcome of the match, his aggressive batting, which included four fours and five sixes, gave Australia something positive to take from the game before they suffered their fifth consecutive ODI defeat.

The only downside for India in the match was their fielding. They had trouble fielding the ball in the wet conditions that occurred later in the day, and this allowed the lower-order Australian batsmen to increase their score. Ravindra Jadeja ended the game on a high note by delivering an excellent turning ball that disturbed Sean Abbott’s stumps in the 29th over. Jadeja also took three wickets in total during the match.

The teams will now play the final ODI in Rajkot, and both sides are planning to have their best players in the lineup for that match. In this game, the players who don’t regularly get to play on the main team had a chance to show their skills, although some did better than others in seizing this opportunity.

India 399 for 5 (Iyer 105, Gill 104, Suryakumar 72*, Rahul 52) beat Australia 217 all out (Abbott 54, Warner 53, Ashwin 3-41, Jadeja 3-42) by 99 runs (DLS method).

-Rahul Gautam