Steve Smith, who backed his century in the first match with another hundred in the 2nd game admitted that he felt good from the first ball and has found his touch back. Australia contained India to 338 runs after posting 389 runs to pocket the series with one match still to go.
Batting first, Aaron Finch and David Warner got to their respective fifties and added a 142-run partnership as Indian bowlers continue to search for wickets with the new ball. Though they went in succession Steve Smith ensured that Australia didn’t let the advantage slip and scored at a brisk rate with another brisk century.
Marnus Labuschange played the ideal foil and there was another 100+ association with Steve Smith. Glenn Maxwell applied the finishing touches to the innings with his whirlwind knock of 63 off 29 balls as Australia posted a monumental target of 390 runs.
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In pursuit, Shikhar Dhawan and Mayank Agarwal gave India a good start, but it’s the habit of losing wickets in bunches hurt them badly. Both the openers were gone soon, and despite good partnerships between Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer and then Kohli and KL Rahul, India failed to get even close to the mammoth target of 390.
I felt good from the first ball – Steve Smith
Although the wicket slowed down which made it difficult for the batters to time the ball, but it was brilliant catching from the Aussies which made the difference and sealed the series in their favour.
Meanwhile, Steve Smith was once again adjudged the man of the match for his splendid man of the match award. After scoring 104 runs with the bat, Smith chipped in with superman effort to dismiss Shreyas Iyer and put Australia on top. Here is what Smith said after the match,
“I think last innings I probably could have been caught at long-on, a close lbw. I didn’t give any chances today and I just felt good from ball one. I was able to get myself in and go hard. Another great foundation set by Finchy and Davey. Let me go hard at the back end.
The last two games, the boys have got us off to terrific starts. We know India have a good batting line-up so we needed big totals. I tried to whack the ball too hard in the IPL but I’ve started hitting it with more finesse I should say, which is working for me. Nice to score some runs again for the team and get us to a good total. I thought the boys were outstanding in the field as well.
