Tried to whack the ball too hard in IPL: Smith says his finesse is back

AUS vs IND | 2nd ODI: Steve Smith, Australia overpower Virat Kohli, India at SCG

Australia defeated India by runs and won the ODI series 2-0 with a match remaining to be played in Canberra on December 02. Virat Kohli led by other teammates in the middle order tried their best to keep India in with the chance of chasing a massive target of 390 runs but fell short as sparks of brilliance ended promising innings one after another for India. The chase started well for the men in blue with Mayank Agarwal finding the best of his timing from the word go as Micthell Starc who was punished for being too full in the first over in search of swing. Dhawan too came to the part as he opened his account with a drive on the up in his signature style through the cover. But, in the end, Josh Hazlewood proved to be too accurate for Dhawan’s search of too many boundaries in the powerplay while Agarwal was undone by a beauty off Cummins that left him from the line outside the off stump. Both Agarwal and Dhawan would be disappointed for not converting their aggressive starts into something bigger and substantive for the team. A focused Virat Kohli followed Dhawan’s departure of Dhawan and he was soon joined by Shreyas Iyer at the crease and both started steadying the ship with chipping in at the required rate with a handful of boundaries at regular intervals. After gifting his wicket in a so uncharacteristic ultra-aggressive manner, Kohli made sure that he did not commit any mistake of over attacking the bowlers while Iyer kept on teasing the boundary riders more frequently than his captain. The level of Kohli’s focus on the big prize of chasing the mountain of 390 runs could be assessed in the manner he turned around to adjust his gloves in signature style after completing a fifty without acknowledging it. He was proactive as a batsman while being very flexible in his shot-making. He was not getting his usual flat batted drives on to the offside against the leg spinner Zampa and gave up on the shot after a point and took him on over the extra cover, stepping out to the crease of the ball. Virat Kohli, the batsman was well on course to help his team in pursuit of the big chase but his inning was cut short in the manner of an unlucky captain of a team for whom nothing is going in their favour. He was not at his fluent best, but Starc provided him with the option of showing what his best may look like when he flicked his half volley pitched outside leg stump way over the long-leg boundary. It was similar to the one he had played in the last game off Pat Cummins. KL Rahul proved his worth lower down the order as he unleashed his range of strokes and belted all bowlers over the boundaries. He was especially severe against the short ball and was smart enough to pick the shorter side of the ground to attempt his big shots. Hardik Pandya had an anti-climax kind of day as he struggled for timing as the required run-rate kept on climbing and his continuous failure to get the run rate going saw KL Rahul attempting big shorts invariably ever ball and ultimately Zampa used the advantage of shooting required rate and to beat Rahul in the game of patience. Earlier, Australian captain Aaron Finch won the toss and elected to bat first. In a completely familiar script to the one in the first match. Both him and David Warner waited for a brief spell to see off the initial overs of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Sami before teeing off. There was a slight bit of difference today as Warner was the dominant force while Finch took his time more than the left-hander. All Indian bowlers looked flat both in attitude and bowling while their inability to strike through or even control the flow of the game was once again exposed as the Aussie batsmen started taking the game away from them. Right from the start, it all looked like the first game where the openers tired down the pacers and then the long batting lineup of Steve Smith, and Glenn Maxwell made full use of their inaccuracies. Bumrah’s problems to not find a wicket along with Shami’s struggle to find the suitable lengths were continued on a pitch as flat as a highway. Highly promising Navdeep Saini was not able to deliver even half of what he had promised before the tour so far and at once was conceding runs in excess of 10 runs per over. Finch was taken away by Shami but only after he and Warner had put Australia on a perfect track to better their score in the last match. Before Virat Kohli and his bowlers could start afresh to checkback their momentum, Steve Smith started from where had left in the last match and denied men in blue any chance to even think of coming back to control a passage of play. He was aggressive from the outset, and unlike the last match, did not take too many balls to settle down before climbing onto the bowlers. He showed the kind of form he was batting in when Shami overpitched a delivery near his pads on the stump line and Smith responded with a classical straight drive as it gets in the ODIs. Warner was soon gone after his arrival but he was not lost of partners who could match his shot makings as Marnus Labuschagne played a second fiddle inning at the start to aptly support the audacious and extravagant stroke-making of Smith. From Bumrah to Shami and Chahal to Jadeja, every bowler was put to the sword as Smith scored a masterful century in one ball less than the last century two days back. Labuschagne and Maxwell reaped all the benefits out of a bowling attack depleted by the onslaught from the Australian top three and guided the Kangaroos that put the Indian batting lineup out of the game pushing against the wall even before they walked out to bat. Such was the dominance of the Smith- Labuschagne-Maxwell trio that Australia could score a massive 2020 runs from the last 20 overs and it was always an uphill task for the men in blue who are without the best opening batsman Rohit Sharma. If being outplayed in both the batting and bowling departments were not enough, the Indian team was outplayed in the fielding too. While the catch dropping spree of the Virat Kohli's men that started in the last game was unstoppable in the second as well, Aussies were up to the task as two blinders took two consecutive wickets of Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli when both of them were looking settled for a big inning. While the Aussies would have celebrated Kohli’s wicket more widely, Steve Smith who is yet to set a foot wrong in the series so far dived valiantly to cling onto a shot nailed by Iyer at the short mid-wicket position. Iyer’s wicket clogged the momentum of the batting after the duo had started putting balls into the gaps and were batting with a risk-free approach. Virat Kohli and his men can hold their head high as they have been able to put on a strong batting performance but at the same time, lacklustre fielding efforts in two consecutive games along with undiscerning bowling throughout the 50 overs and especially with the new balls would leave them embarrassed. To be fair to the Indian pacers, their Australian counterparts, too, did not get any amount of swing in the air or help from the pitch but the fact that they extracted more bounce and took the help of everything that the pitch offered by bowling slower bouncers and cutters would make the Indian bowlers soul searching as the ODI series as slipped out of hands before they head to Canberra for the final and inconsequential match of the three-match series.

Twitter applauds as Kohli becomes fastest to reach 22,000 international runs

Indian captain Virat Kohli became the fastest player in international cricket to reach 22,000 runs. He reached the milestone of scoring 89 runs from 87 balls in his innings against Australia in the second ODI at Sydney Cricket Ground. Kohli, who has played 418 international matches so far, needed 88 runs to reach the milestone having been stranded on 21,912 runs after getting out for 20 in the last game. On this achievement of the 32-year-old skipper, Twitter was all applause for the Delhi boy, although the situation of the match worsened for the team after his fall of a wicket. Kohli has also taken the least amount of innings to reach the milestone. He is also the fastest to reach not only 22,000 but each of the thousand runs post 10 thousand, up to 22 thousand. Apart from Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, Kohli is only the third Indian and 8th batsman in the entire world to reach this height. Interestingly, the Indian maestro has the best average among the 10 international batsmen to reach 20,000 international runs. He is also the only one on the list with an average of more than 50. His average of more than 56 is way ahead of the second-ranked Jacques Kallis, who has an average of 49.10. Sachin Tendulkar of India leads the all-time charts with 34357 runs to his name. Whether Kohli would be able to reach there or get past it, only time will tell.

West Indies settle for tame high-scoring draw in practice game

West Indies Test team would have been upbeat after piling up 571 in their first innings of the practice match against New Zealand A. However, the latter side ensured that the visitors won't get any further encouragement by scoring 440/8 in their own innings as the four-day match ended in a tame draw. The New Zealand A side benefitted from two centuries, one from 28-year old right-hander Will Young and the other by their skipper Cole McConchie, also 28. For the Windies team, up and coming pacer Chemar Holder was the leading wicket-taker with figures of 3/100 in 28 overs while Kraigg Braithwaite followed up his highest first-class score with decent figures of 2/66 in 28 overs. Captain Jason Holder picked up a solitary wicket in his 19 overs while conceding 45 runs while Alzarri Joseph went wicketless in his 18 overs. The only frontline spinner in West Indies line up, Rahkeem Cornwall, also got just one wicket in return for 34 runs off 15 overs. All-rounder Raymon Reifer remained without any scalps. One wicket was taken by part-timer Jason Campbell. While conceding such a big score is not ideal for the West Indies team, it is quite possible that the pacers bowled within themselves and didn't exert much after discovering the flat nature of the wicket. The likes of Jason Holder and Alzarri Joseph are quite likely to benefit from the swing-friendly conditions of New Zealand when the Test series start. Earlier in the match, West Indian opener Kraigg Braithwaite scored 248, his highest score in first-class cricket. His effort, along with 93 from the returning Darren Bravo and 53 from Jermaine Blackwood, took the visitors to an impressive 571. Braithwaite had a tough time in West Indies' last Test series in England. His big score would please the West Indies team and the selectors. However, the spotlight would be on his opening partner Campbell who hasn't got a good score for some time. The 93 by Bravo is also crucial due to the importance of the left-hander in the West Indies team. With Shai Hope out of the team due to lack of runs, Bravo's role becomes greater. The two-match Test series begins on December 3 at Hamilton. Second Test takes place from December 11 at Wellington.

VVS Laxman’s five names who could be groomed to solve sixth bowler problem

Former India batsman VVS Laxman, commenting on the need to have a sixth bowling option for Team India, suggested five names who could be groomed to fill in that much-required place. "An old bugbear continued to haunt India. Their make-up has been such that they have only pure batsmen or pure bowlers, with the exception of Ravindra Jadeja. That means Virat's hands are severely tied,” Laxman, 48, wrote in his column in The Times of India. India indeed missed the sixth bowler and in both the games, although in the second game, an underfit Hardik Pandya bowled four overs to pick up one wicket and bowl an economical spell, considering the way other bowlers were butchered. “Going forward, India must have a sixth bowling option, even if at the expense of a specialist batsman,” suggested the former wristy batsman. He further said that the best sides in the world always have 1-2 additional bowling resources apart from four or five main bowlers. He then names those cricketers who could be groomed for that role. “I can think of five names that can slot in as the extra all-rounder, given Hardik isn't bowling these days. There is the spin trio of Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, and Krunal Pandya, as well as the medium-paced duo of Vijay Shankar and Shivam Dube,” said the Sunrisers Hyderabad mentor. Adding that these players need to be included in the squad as soon as possible, Laxman said, “Get anyone or two of them into the squad, give them game-time, and groom them for the battles ahead.” In the second game too, Indian bowlers were taken to the cleaners and the team was set a total of 390 to chase. The top-order disappointed once again as apart from Kohli nobody really showed the application to play the long haul. At the time of writing the news, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya were batting at the crease with India still needing 146 runs in 71 balls.