Srinagar: India stumbled upon one of the worst ODI losses at home as Australia outplayed hosts in the second ODI at Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
Mitchell Starc ran through the India batting lineup in Visakhapatnam with a five-for. India were bundled out for a mere 117 in the second ODI of the series, recording their second-lowest team score while batting first at home.
India managed to slightly better their lowest first-innings total at home by five runs, surpassing 112 against Sri Lanka in Dharamsala in 2017. This was also their fourth-lowest total at home in ODIs and their third-lowest against Australia.
Mitchell Starc carried his form over from the west coast of Mumbai to the east coast of Visakhapatnam, starting with the wicket of Shubman Gill in the very first over after India were put in to bat first.
Three overs later, he was on a hat-trick for a second game in a row, scalping skipper Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav off consecutive balls. Yadav’s dismal ODI form continued as he recorded his second golden duck in a row.
India’s saviour with the bat from the previous game, KL Rahul, couldn’t repeat his heroics this time with the left-arm pacer trapping him in front of the stumps. Steve Smith took a phenomenal one-handed stunner at slips to send Hardik Pandya back as India lost half their side before putting 50 runs on board.
Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja looked assured at the crease but couldn’t add much to India’s score with Nathan Ellis accounting for both their wickets. Sean Abbott too was on a hattrick after snaring the wickets of Kuldeep Yadav and Mohammad Shami off consecutive balls but it was Starc who was destined to get his five-wicket haul, rattling Mohammed Siraj’s stumps to finish with figures of 5/53.
The five wicket-haul was Starc’s ninth in ODI cricket, taking him level with Brett Lee for most five-fors for Australia and into the top five for most five-fors in ODI history.
In reply, Australia needed only 11 overs to chase the total down as they took apart India with some brutal hitting. Mitchell Marsh was devastated during his 36-ball 66*, smashing sixes fours and sixes each. Travis Head wasn’t to be left behind as he remained unbeaten on 51 off 30 balls.
The margin of loss was the biggest inflicted on India in ODI history, with Australia chasing down the total with 234 balls to spare. The loss against New Zealand in Hamilton in 2019 was the previous worst, where the Black Caps chased down a target of 93 with 212 balls to spare.