Indore: Team India’s batsmen were at their devastating best in the second ODI against Australia at the Holkar Stadium here on Sunday.
Asked to bat first by stand-in captain Steve Smith, the Indians piled up 399/5 – their highest ODI total Australia. India’s previous best against the Aussies was 383/6, in Bengaluru 10 years ago.
The irrepressible Shubman Gill and comeback man Shreyas Iyer led the charge to set the platform for another cracking performance two days after the 5-wicket series-opening win at Mohali.
Ruturaj Gaikwad was dismissed for 8 in the 4th over before Gill and Iyer took charge. Matching each other stroke for stroke and taking on all the Aussie bowlers, Gill and Iyer stroked to fluent centuries and added 200 runs for the second wicket.
After Iyer (105 off 90 balls, 11×4, 3×6) and Gill (104 off 97, 6×4, 4×6) departed, the momentum was not lost thanks to cameos by skipper KL Rahul (52 off 38, 3×4, 3×6) and Ishan Kishan (31 off 18).
And then came Suryakumar Yadav to provide the finishing punch. The T20 master improved his ODI record with a second successive half-century, remaining unbeaten on a typically power-packed unbeaten 72 off 37 balls that included 6 sixes (4 in a row off Cameron Green) and 6 fours.
Poor Cameron Green got an unwanted century, conceding 103 runs in his 10 overs.
