'As hot as anyone has played in': Cummins

Australia's batsmen copped the ire of their skipper in Kolkata, but their bowlers had every reason to be proud after their efforts in what, according to Pat Cummins, was the "hottest one-day game anyone said they've played".

Australia's fielders roasted as the apparent temperature, which factors in humidity, wind and radiation from the sun, was reported to reach 42 degrees Celsius at Eden Gardens on Thursday afternoon.

Despite the oppressive conditions, the tourists claimed 7-67 in the final 15 overs to hold the Indians to a below-par total of 252, a brave effort that ultimately went to waste when they managed just 202 in reply.

Australia's Test players had experienced similar conditions on their recent tour of Bangladesh, with Peter Handscomb and Pat Cummins showing obvious signs of exhaustion during the second Test in Chittagong.

And the paceman stood up again on Thursday, nudging the 150kph mark and finishing with 1-34 from 10 overs.

"It felt similar to Dhaka, I reckon, just below Chittagong," Cummins said when asked to compare the conditions in West Bengal to those in Bangladesh.

"But that's the hottest one-day game anyone said they've played. I think the 50 overs felt like it was about 200 overs out there.

"You only had to look at 'Wadey' (wicketkeeper Matthew Wade), it was 15 overs in and he was on all fours. So it's not great conditions."

A 1.30pm start time - earlier than normal for a day-night match to try and avoid the heavy dew factor late at night - and no wind contributed to the oppressive conditions as the tourists were forced to field first having lost the toss.

Cummins as well as fellow quicks Nathan Coulter-Nile and Kane Richardson all left the field after bowling their initial four-over spells in an attempt to lower their body temperature before heading out into the furnace again.

"You pretty much try and change all your clothes because they're just sodden through with sweat," Cummins said.

"If you've got strapping you try and get that re-strapped. You just try and get one or two overs just to cool down and have some ice blocks, change all your gear and try and freshen up."

Cummins and his pace-bowling teammates took seven Indian wickets in total as part of Australia's fightback in the field, but it mattered little in the end as their batting teammates collapsed to 8-148 at one stage of the run chase.

But the right-armer said the batting performance shouldn't detract from that of the bowlers, who'd had also reduced India's star-studded batting line-up to 5-87 at one stage of the series opener in Chennai.

"As a player and a teammate it's frustrating when it's out of your control," Cummins said of the batting collapse. "We got in a position in both games where we could've taken the game away from India.

"It was unfortunate that there was a couple of wickets but we've just got to try and find a way to fix that up. There's still three games left so we can still win the series.

"I thought it was a great effort from the five or six bowlers.

"There were no big overs so I think to keep them to 250 on a really good batting wicket and batting conditions in the afternoon, I thought it was a great job."

Cummins will return home following the five-match ODI series, which continues on Sunday with the third match in Indore.

Australia's Qantas Tour of India

Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

Australia T20 squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.

India squad (first three ODIs): Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

ODI Fixtures

September 17: MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai

September 21: Eden Gardens, Kolkata

September 24: Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore

September 28: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

October 1: VCA Stadium, Nagpur

T20 Fixtures

October 1: JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi

October 10: Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati

October 13: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad