Australia vs India: Matt Short, Cooper Connolly take the Aussies to series victory in Adelaide

Contrasting half-centuries from Matt Short and Cooper Connolly were the major talking points as Australia sealed a two-wicket win against India in the second ODI at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday (October 23). With this victory, the three-match ODI series has been sealed by the Aussies with a game to spare.

Chasing an under-par target of 265, Australia didn't get off to the racy starts that they have been used to. With the new ball moving appredciably under lights, Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh were forced to dig deep but both fell without making much of a contribution. At 54/2, India would have felt confident of making further inroads quickly but Short alongside Matt Renshaw had other ideas.

The duo put on 55 runs for the third wicket to arrest the slide but India quickly hit back with a double strike as 109/2 soon became 132/4 for the home side. Connolly, however, showed remarkable composure as he stitched two half-century stands to virtually ace the chase. A 55-run stand with Short got Australia closer while the 59-run partnership with Mitchell Owen closed the door on India.

Owen and Xavier Bartlett perished in pursuit of the glory hit but the result was never in doubt. Connolly stayed put and guided his side across the line with Adam Zampa for company. The chase was done with more than three overs to spare, indicating how short India were with the bat. A few wickets fell towards the end but Australia always had the game under control.

Earlier on in the day, India had a roller-coaster innings with the bat. Skipper Shubman Gill had another failure while Virat Kohli recorded his second successive duck of the series to give the Aussies early advantage. Josh Hazlewood was sensational but the wickets went to Bartlett upfront as India found themselves in trouble against the new ball.

Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer then combined for a crucial 118-run stand to give India some respite. Both batters were at sea against the new ball, got beaten plenty of times too, but managed to hold on. Once the ball got softer, they were able to score more freely and managed to up the rate a bit.

Both batters feasted on Australia's spinners including Adam Zampa and it was the return of Starc that saw Rohit's exit. Axar Patel counterpunched with a 41-ball 44 but India kept losing wickets at regular intervals thereafter. In fact, if not for Harshit Rana's cameo at the end, India would have had a much lower total to contend with.

The score of 264 was statistically above-par, given that the average score batting first in ODIs at Adelaide is 225 and the previous five games had seen that number to be 235. However, this was a pitch where there were runs to be had once the ball got softer. India needed to get to 280-290 to have a strong chance.

Brief scores: Australia 265/8 in 46.2 overs (Matt Short 74, Cooper Connolly 61*; Washington Sundar 2-37) beat India 264/9 in 50 overs (Rohit Sharma 73, Shreyas Iyer 61; Adam Zampa 4-60) by two wickets