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Match Report:

Scorecard

Kohli, Kuldeep hand India 2-0 lead

India's skipper makes 92 before young spinner takes historic hat-trick in 50-run win

Australia's chances of regaining the world No.1 ranking on this Qantas ODI Tour of India are over after a hat-trick from spinner Kuldeep Yadav contributed to another batting collapse in the second match of the series in Kolkata.


The tourists couldn't take advantage of a stirring fightback from their fast bowlers, who bravely defied oppressive afternoon conditions and a score of 92 from skipper Virat Kohli to bowl the hosts out for 252.

Kohli resumes heated rivalry with Aussies

Having been 3-106 in reply, the wicket of Steve Smith (who scored 59 in his 100th game) proved to be the beginning of the end for the Australians, with the lower order succumbing to the left-arm wrist spin of Kuldeep (3-54), who become just the third Indian to take an ODI hat-trick and the first in 26 years.

The tourists were skittled for 202, only an unbeaten 62 from Marcus Stoinis preventing another sub-200 total, and they now need to win the third match in Indore on Sunday just to keep the five-match series alive.

The Aussies required a series win of 4-1 or better to move ahead of South Africa and into top spot on the ICC's rankings and the hosts will now eye a chance to claim the No.1 position for themselves, which they'll do if they win two of the three remaining matches.

Caught. Run-out. Not-out? Pandya's bizarre survival

Swing king Bhuvneshwar Kumar sparked India's dominant performance in the field, producing a superb opening spell of 2-9 from six overs that yielded the wickets of openers Hilton Cartwright and David Warner.

The opening pair faced 24 balls between them and were no match for the right-armer's nippy swing bowling; new boy Cartwright was bowled through the gate for his second consecutive score of one while Warner poked at one from his IPL teammate and edged to second slip, also on one.

And Bhuvneshwar should have had a third when Travis Head edged to Rohit Sharma when he was just 15, but the first slip spilled a straight-forward chance.

It looked briefly like that moment would be match-defining as Head and Smith added 74 before the younger man inexplicably hit a Yuzvendra Chahal full toss straight to mid-wicket, the bowler so embarrassed by his good fortune that he sheepishly put his head in his hand when the catch was taken.

Glenn Maxwell played a typically entertaining knock; he swept Kuldeep for two consecutive sixes but then advanced at a well-flighted delivery from Chahal (2-34), failed to make solid contact and veteran gloveman MS Dhoni quickly gathered in the ricochet and broke the stumps with Maxwell still out of his ground.

And when Smith top-edged Hardik Pandya (2-56) to deep mid-wicket, the hosts were in full control.

Kuldeep takes historic hat-trick

Matthew Wade’s run of low scores continued when he dragged a wide delivery from Kuldeep onto his stumps before Ashton Agar was trapped LBW first ball and Pat Cummins edged a brilliant wrong'un to hand Kuldeep the first Indian ODI hat-trick since Kapil Dev's at the same ground in 1991.

Australia were 8-148 at that point and the match was over bar the clouting from Stoinis, who hit three sixes in his 65-ball innings.

Earlier, Australia took 7-67 to close out India's innings when the hosts had at one stage looked on target for a score well in excess of 300.

After Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane (55 from 64 balls with seven fours) helped move the hosts to 3-185 with 15 overs to go, pacemen Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Kane Richardson defied their aching bodies and exhausting heat to spark a late collapse.

Aussies struggle in sapping Kolkata heat

All three fast men had been forced from the field earlier in the day as the Australians fried in conditions that were reported to top 42 degrees Celsius when the high humidity was factored in.

Having taken a smart return catch to remove Rohit early on, Coulter-Nile copped the brunt of Rahane's early onslaught but returned later to remove Kedhar Jadhav and Kohli in consecutive overs and finish with 3-51 from his 10.

Richardson, playing his first ODI in 18 months having replaced James Faulkner in the side, had been targeted by former IPL teammate Kohli early on but also fought back well, removing game one destroyers Pandya and Dhoni to grab 3-55 from 10.

But it was Cummins who was the pick of the bowlers, bowling at speeds nudging 150kph in the soaring heat and leaking just 34 runs for his one wicket, which came via an excellent diving catch from Wade.

Kohli, who passed 20 for the first time in seven innings against Australia in 2017, struggled for timing early having been struck on the shoulder by a Coulter-Nile short ball but gradually got into his groove, the highlight of his innings coming when he walked at Richardson and casually whipped a good-length ball on off stump to the rope at mid-wicket.

But he chopped on eight runs short of three figures as part of Australia's fightback that, ultimately, proved to be futile


AUSTRALIA XI: Steven Smith (c), David Warner, Hilton Cartwright, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Kane Richardson.

INDIA XI: Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Manish Pandey, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah.

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