IND VS AUS - 2nd ODI, Australia tour of India, 2023

India have been blown away. There were chances of rain. But India were hit by a couple of storms. First Starc and then Marsh. The Indian batting order donned a brittle look and Starc used the moving ball like a scalpel to scathe open some wounds of the Indian team. Marsh further rubbed salt with his pulverizing display when they were chasing. India were never in the game once they lost the toss. They will have to rinse this off as they move further south to Chennai for the decider. Australia have their tails up and would look to continue their dominant display. We have had immense fun in bringing this to you. This is Kumar Abhisekh Das, Abhinand Raghavendran, Saurabh Shankar and Mukesh Gowda saying you ta ta!

Mitch Starc: I have learnt the trade over the years. My rhythm has been good for a few weeks now. Last couple of nights, I got the ball to shape in the air and do a little bit off the wicket. Feeling in a good place, hopefully I can continue. It's a role I play, being more attacking and bowling slightly fuller than some of the other guys. I can be slightly more expensive, but that brings in all the dismissals more, that's the role I play. My conversations are a little different compared to someone like a Cam Green. Both the decks have helped the seamers. There was movement in the air in Mumbai as well. My game plan is to attack the stumps and bring in all modes of dismissal into play.

Steve Smith: Was a quick one. Only 37 overs you don't see that too often. Starc, with the new ball, put them under pressure. It was a nice start to the day. I didn't know how the wicket was going to play. There was no real total in mind. It was about going out there and executing our skills and hopefully putting Indians under pressure, fortunately we were able to do that. It was one of those days and we were on the right side of it. Just that kind of a day when the nicks went to hand. The way Head and Marsh played at the start, they just kept going and we were able to bounce back after the last game. Don't know about the catch of the century. Nice that I held on today. Fortunate I was able to hang on to it. It was a big wicket, Hardik is an unbelievable player.

Rohit Sharma: If you lose a game, it is just disappointing. We didn't apply ourselves with the bat. Didn't put enough runs on the board. It wasn't a 117 wicket. Kept losing wickets and that didn't allow us to get the runs we wanted. Once we lost Shubman in the first over, myself and Virat got 30-35 runs quickly. But then I lost my wicket and we lost we lost a couple of wickets back to back. That put us on the back foot. It's always tough to come back from that situation. Today wasn't the day for us. Starc is a quality bowler. He has been doing it for Australia with the new ball. He kept bowling to his strength. Swung the new ball and took the odd ball away. Kept the batters guessing. Marsh has to be one of the top players going around when it comes to power hitting. He backs himself to do that every now and then. Definitely in top 3 and 4 when it comes to power hitting.

What went wrong for India? They lost Gill early. Then a flurry of fours. But post that the wickets carnival never ended to India's bemusement. Starc was amongst the wickets and pocketed a fifer. India were just hapless and folded up for 117. Post that, it was the Marsh-Head show.

Travis Head: Nice to contribute, really good to get a partnership going. We were a bit settled today and took our time. Last game, I went hard early to push the envelope. It's nice to have the big fellow (Marsh) at the other end when he hits them into the top tier. We were hoping that one of us gets away. It's very rare that both of us go at the same time. Throughout my experience opening the batting, if one guy is going, you try to support that. Today it was a short total, we both felt like going. We played really calculated. It was a nice partnership, very enjoyable.

Mitch Marsh: It was a bit of fun. Always nice to get a good start when you’re chasing a small total like that. I was hoping Head would get off to a flier and I could play it slow. To be honest, I’ve been enjoying playing swing and batting up the order. (On Starc) He’s been brilliant, it is horrible standing at slip when he bowls because it flies at about 80 miles an hour off the edge. But it is great to see him bowl like this, we now have a rare chance to win an away series in India.

Highest run-rates in century opening partnerships in ODIs
Martin Guptill & Brendon McCullum: 105(43) - 14.65 vs England, Wellington, 2015
Martin Guptill & Tom Latham: 118*(50) - 14.16 vs Sri Lanka, Christchurch, 2015
Travis Head & Mitchell Marsh: 121*(66) - 11.00 vs India, Visakhapatnam, today
Martin Guptill & Brendon McCullum: 108(61) - 10.62 vs Sri Lanka, Christchurch, 2015

Fewest overs taken by Australia to complete an ODI run-chase
66/1 in 7.5 overs vs USA, Southampton, 2004
71/1 in 9.2 overs vs West Indies, Perth, 2013
121/0 in 11 overs vs India, Visakhapatnam, today
118/0 in 12.2 overs vs England, Sydney 2003

This is also the quickest a target has been chased against India in ODIs (overs bowled). Previous record: 93/2 in 14.4 overs by New Zealand, Hamilton, 2019.

Mitchell Marsh vs India in ODIs:
12*(13)
17(14)
33(42)
102*(84)
81 (65)
66* (36)
Total: 311 runs at 103.66, SR: 122.44, 31 fours, 13 sixes

17:30 Local Time, 12:00 GMT, 17:30 IST: This is not the mid-innings summary. Pardon the joke but Australia have made a mockery of India's bowlers. 117 was never a target that would have bothered the visitors but Australia just were too hot to handle. Mitchell Marsh and Head made their intentions clear from ball one and both seam as well as spin disappeared. Fuller ball, short ball, slower ball et all nothing came good for the bowlers. Marsh had batted without any inhibitions in the last game and it was more of an extension from that game into this one for him. Head had the energy rubbed on to him and he took the Indian attack to the cleaners as well. They wanted an early finish and have had one as the entire game lasted for only 37 overs. Nothing went right for the Indians. They were shambolic with the bat and the bowlers also had a forgettable outing. From being a seaming wicket, the deck turned into a batting beauty out of nowhere. India will have to go back to the drawing board as this would go down as one of their heaviest defeats. We will hang in for the presentation ceremony.

Axar to Mitchell Marsh, FOUR, and that's it. Australia end India's nightmare. They make it 1-1 in some style. That was short, outside off, Mitchell Marsh waited on it and in an envious manner slashes it past point for a four. They win with trucks loads of overs to spare and with all their wickets intact

Axar to Mitchell Marsh, no run, punches that down into the off-side and finds the man at cover

Axar to Head, 1 run, turns the ball away on to the on-side and the scores are level

Vasudev: Two innings to be completed in less than 40 overs. Australia roared back in style..!

Axar to Head, 2 runs, fifty for Head! That was tucked off the pads and they scampered back for the second. Head might have been a bit overshadowed but he has been superb as well

Axar to Head, 2 runs, Shami has dropped it and it is good that he hasn't injured himself as he overran the ball. And hence was off-balanced while the ball came to him. The ball burst through his hands. That kind of a day for India. Was a tossed up delivery and Head went for the slog sweep. Skied it big and the man at long-on got there but failed to grab it

Axar to Head, no run, only a shot away now are the Aussies from making it 1-1. So, Head decides to push it back to the bowler

Kuldeep Yadav to Head, 1 run, drags the pull down off a short ball bowled slower. The ball landed short of the man at deep mid. They get a single. Tried to muscle it too hard

Kuldeep Yadav to Head, FOUR, goes back and slams it over mid-wicket for a four. That was dropped short, Head went back in his crease and slammed the pull. They are getting into such good positions to hit them

Kuldeep Yadav to Mitchell Marsh, 1 run, seam up delivery! At 110 clicks. The batter was hurried into a pull down to long-on for a single. There was bounce on that but Mitchell Marsh did well