Kolkata: Half centuries from India skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane power India to 252 all-out in the second match of the five-match ODI series at the Eden Gardens today.
After winning the toss at the Mecca of Indian cricket, home Captain Virat Kohli choose to bat first. Eden Gardens has been known as a happy hunting ground for India’s star opener Rohit Sharma. The Mumbai batsman came to bat with an average of over 100 at this venue. But Rohit could only manage to score 7 runs before getting out to Nathan Coulter-Nile.
Other opener Ajinkya Rahane who couldn’t do much in the first ODI at Chennai, played well on a two-paced pitch and held the fort with his skipper Virat Kohli. Both the batsmen though faced some problems as the ball was not coming on to the bat easily. Unfortunately after completing his half-century, Rahane (54) was run out. Just like the first ODI, Manish Pandey failed again as he got out after adding 3 more runs to the board. After that Kedar Jadhav joined Kohli in the middle. Kedar played quite a few shots and they started to build a good partnership for the home side. When the two were looking dangerous Maxwell took a brilliant catch to send Jadhav (24) back to the pavilion. Skipper Virat Kohli was played on 92 as he missed a century for just 8 runs. Heroes of the last match with the bat Mahendra Singh Dhoni (5) and Hardik Pandya (20) too couldn’t do much today for their side and the team was all-out on 252 with one ball still left in their innings. As the pitch is helping the bowlers and the ball is not coming that well on to the bat, Kohli can count on his bowling line-up to take a 2-0 lead in the series.
Brief scorecard:
India 252 all-out (Ajinkya Rahane 55, Virat Kohli 92; Nathan Coulter-Nile 3 for 51, Kane Richardson 3 for 55) vs Australia.