IND VS AUS - 2nd ODI, Australia tour of India, 2019

India have taken a 2-0 lead in the 5-match series. The middle-order fired in the first match and today the bowlers defended a par score. They are ticking all the right boxes. Vijay Shankar is now a serious contender to book a spot for the World Cups. Good luck, if you are part of the selection panel. The team management would love to see a better performance from the openers. Australia were much better today, but choked under pressure. Finch did score some runs (37 to be precise), but none of their batters were able to convert their starts. We've been treated with two non-high-scoring games in this series. What's Dhoni's home town going to offer? Join us on Friday to find out. Until then, it's goodbye from Abhinand Raghavendran, Akshay Maanay, Hariprasad Sadanandan, Sriram AS and Sagar Chawla.

Stats round up by our very own, Deepu Narayanan.
India's milestone ODI wins:
1st: 10 wkts vs East Africa, 1975
100th: 43 runs vs SA, Mohali, 1993
200th: 8 wkts vs Ken, Nairobi, 2000
300th: 20 runs vs WI, Cuttack, 2007
400th: 6 wkts vs SL, Colombo RPS, 2012
500th: 8 runs vs Aus, Nagpur, 2019
Marcus Stoinis 50+ scores in ODIs:
146*v NZ, 2017 (Lost)
62*v Ind, 2017 (Lost)
60 v Eng, 2018 (Lost)
56 v Eng, 2018 (Lost)
87 v Eng, 2018 (Lost)
63 v SA, 2018 (Lost)
52 v Ind, 2019 (Lost)
Most MoM awards in ODIs (India):
62 S Tendulkar (463 ODIs)
32 V KOHLI (224)
31 S Ganguly (308)
27 Yuvraj Singh (301)
23 V Sehwag (241)
20 MS Dhoni (337)

Virat Kohli: When I walk to bat, the situation gets difficult, I got no choice, just need to put my head down and bat. Me and Vijay Shankar had a good partnership. I'm totally exhausted now. He (Shankar) was batting outstandingly well, but was unfortunately run-out. I knew 250+ would be challenging. I was thinking about the 46th over (to go with Kedar/Shankar). I was talking with both of them (Rohit and Dhoni). If they (Bumrah and Shami) take wickets, we'll be right in the game and that's exactly what happened . He (Shankar) just put the ball in the right areas. He showed great composure with both bat and the ball; a good game for him. Both are experienced, it's always nice to speak them. Rohit is the vice-captain and MS has been there for a long time. These guys watch the game so keenly. I have a word with the bowler as well, invariably all of them are on the same page. He's (Bumrah) a champion. He just turned the game around, he's at the top of the rankings, he's at the top of his game. So proud to have him on our side. Just to come through in games like these, gives great confidence. I think it's very important to look ugly at times and earn victories. There might be low totals in WC games as well. We will fight till the end, and tonight was an example of that. This type of pitch was tailor-made for him (Kedar). He was keen to bowl the last over as well. He was chirping and encouraging the bowlers. He gives you 7 quality overs as well. It felt good (40th ODI century), just a number. As long as I keep playing for India, I'm happy.

Aaron Finch: It was close, was one of the games that we wanted to take as deep as we can, hoping that we could get across the line. Stoinis played a really terrific innings but we couldn't get across the line. We'll learn. (On when he thought Australia were in front) Not at any stage really, not on this pitch against this Indian attack. You know you have to play till the very end, can't take things for granted at any point. (Whether Australia left it too late) Not really, I thought if Stoinis takes a risk early and gets out, we have no chance at all. I thought he played it well. It was important for him to take it deep and I am sure he will learn from this. In the future, it will help us take games deeper and we will get across the line. (On his personal form) Not enough. Would have been good to get more, starts don't win you games. We had many starts from our side and they had a century from their side. We bowled well in patches, we were great at times and okay otherwise. Virat was the difference in the game, if one of our main batters had done the job, we would have got across the line comfortably.

Bowling out opponents most times in ODIs post CT 2017:
22/50 India
14/25 Afghanistan
13/30 New Zealand
12/28 Pakistan
11/26 South Africa
10/31 England

Shankar: It was an opportunity to redeem myself after the expensive over I bowled. I was literally waiting for this opportunity, wanted to bowl under pressure because only if I deliver, they will trust me. I was up for the challenge. Around the 43rd over, I was telling myself that I am bowling the final over and defend the score, just prepared myself a bit. It's about staying clear mentally. Wanted to just stick to the basics, hit the stumps from a hard length as there was a bit of reverse. When you play for the country, you have to be ready to do what the team needs. I always say to myself to keep working on all aspects of my game so that when the opportunity arrives, I am ready to grab it. Yes, it (the batting) was good, timed the ball well and rotated the strike well. I was confident of doing well and we (him and Kohli) had a good partnership.

Phew! What a match, that was. No team really dominated proceedings, right through the match. It was a seesaw contest. Chasing 251 for victory, the openers got Australia off to a decent start with a fifty partnership. The Indian spinners applied the brakes in the middle overs. Handscomb tackled spin really well and looked settled at the crease, but he took on Jadeja's arm and paid the price. Post that, Carey and Stoinis went after Kuldeep hitting 15 off his 9th over. They brought the asking rate below 6 and it was Australia's match to lose from there. That's when Bumrah showed his calibre taking two wickets. He's making that a habit. The 'calculations game' was played by both the sides, but Shankar's heroics in the final over ensured a thrilling win for the hosts.

21:28 Local Time, 15:58 GMT, 21:28 IST: Incredible scenes! He had conceded 13 runs off his opening over, there were some eyebrows raised when he was given the ball ahead of Kedar Jadhav. But, my goodness, he's performed exceptionally well under immense pressure. Australia needed 11 runs off 6 balls and this is what Vijay Shankar did: W, 2, W! As players exchange handshakes, Stoinis is still distraught. He saw off Bumrah's final over (48th of the match), scoring just one run off it. The all-rounder backed himself to target the Indian bowlers in the last two overs, but he succumbed in the 50th over.

Shankar to Zampa, out Bowled!! Vijay Shankar has done it! This is India's 500th ODI win. The umpires wanted to check if it was a fair delivery, no problems whatsoever. He bowls the perfect delivery. Slips in a yorker right in the blockhole and a backing away Zampa can't jam it out. Crashes into middle-stump. India win by 8 runs! Zampa b Shankar 2(2)

Shankar to Zampa, THATS OUT!! Bowled!!

Shankar to Zampa, 2 runs, Zampa moves leg-side and pats this length ball to the right of point, where Rohit dives and takes the pace off the ball. The batters collect a double because of that

Adam Zampa, right handed bat, comes to the crease

Five balls to go, 11 to win.

Shankar to Stoinis, out Lbw!! Wow! Stoinis has been adjudged lbw. And Stoinis has to review that. He does. Legal delivery. A seam-up delivery and Stoinis missed the heave. Hit him on the back leg adjacent to the sticks. Was there any bat involved? Nothing on UltraEdge. Over to HawkEye, now. Umpire's call on hitting wickets. The on-field call of umpire Nitin Menon stays. Stoinis is absolutely distraught. What drama here at Nagpur! Stoinis wanted to play a big heave and got done in by this in-slanter from a length. The impact was on middle and ball-tracking showed it to be clipping leg-stump. Stoinis lbw b Shankar 52(65) [4s-4 6s-1]

Shankar to Stoinis, THATS OUT!! Lbw!!

Australia review!

Vijay Shankar [1.0-0-13-0] is back into the attack

Six balls | 11 runs | 2 wickets! It's Vijay Shankar over Kedar Jadhav. Stoinis can finish it with two strikes. Let's see how Shankar performs under pressure. A mid-pitch chat between the batters. Jadeja moves to deep mid-wicket, Rayudu at long-on, Kohli at long-off. Here's Shankar...

Shami to Lyon, FOUR, this is bonus for Australia. Shami dishes out a full toss on leg, Lyon clears his front leg to hoick across the line and gets a thick inside edge that runs away fine and into the fine leg fence

Lyon has to try and play a big shot now! 15 needed off 7..