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SYDNEY: Steve Smith was at his imperious greatest as he scored a second successive 62-ball century to drive Australia to a 51-run victory over India on the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, sealing the one-day sequence 2-Zero with a match to spare.
The conflict, nearly a carbon copy of Australia’s 66-run win in Friday’s match on the identical floor, was soured for the house followers by an harm to David Warner which can rule him out of the check sequence across the new yr.
Warner had scored a vibrant 83 in a gap partnership of 142 together with his skipper Aaron Finch (60) as Australia made gentle of the stifling afternoon circumstances to pile on a large 389 for 4.
Four overs into India’s reply after a southerly wind had introduced a dramatic drop in temperatures, nevertheless, Warner injured his adductor whereas fielding and needed to be helped off the sphere.
The 34-year-old opener was taken to hospital for scans, and Australia can be sweating over the outcomes with the beginning of the check sequence 18 days away.
His group mates wrapped up the match comfortably sufficient regardless of a positive innings of 89 from Virat Kohli and a 72 from wicketkeeper KL Rahul as India limped to 338 for 9.
“I felt good from ball one and was really able to go hard,” stated Man of the Match Smith. “Nice to score some runs for the team and get a good total. Nice performance.”
India’s openers had been dismissed in successive overs with solely 60 runs on the board earlier than skipper Kohli took cost and put collectively partnerships of 93 with Shreyas Iyer (38) and 72 with Rahul.
Once the skipper departed to a flying catch by Moises Henriques off Josh Hazlewood, Rahul took up the mantle to maintain alive Indian hopes that they may simply pull off their greatest ever profitable run chase in one-dayers.
Rahul thumped 5 sixes in a pugnacious innings earlier than holing out within the deep off spinner Adam Zampa.
“Completely outplayed,” stated Kohli. “With the ball we were not that effective, we just didn’t hit the areas we wanted to that effectively. The chase always felt a bit too steep.”
Earlier, the day had belonged to the batsmen of the Australian high order, who as soon as once more got the chance to showcase their abilities within the face of some lacklustre bowling.
Smith wanted solely 64 balls for his 104 earlier than falling to all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who earlier than Sunday had not bowled in worldwide cricket since September final yr resulting from a decrease again harm.
Glenn Maxwell’s belligerent unbeaten 63 from 29 balls and a stroke-filled 70 from Marnus Labuschagne helped Australia construct on the robust platform and end with a flourish.
(Additional reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Hugh Lawson)
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