Rohit flies high, Australia higher

Brisbane, January 15
For the second match in a row, Rohit Sharma’s excellent century was overshadowed by Australia’s batting might as the hosts notched up a seven-wicket victory in the second One-day International to take a 2-0 series lead.
Rohit, named the Man of the Match, made a 127-ball 124, which was the cornerstone of India’s 308/8. India fell well short of the 330-340 they seemed set for.
With 11 fours and three sixes, Rohit was the outstanding performer, Ajinkya Rahane (89) and skipper Virat Kohli (59) being the other notable contributors. This was Rohit’s 10th ODI hundred, and fifth against Australia.
However, the Australians never looked in trouble as they easily chased down the steep target with an over to spare, exposing India’s bowling frailties. Openers Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh (both 71) laid the foundation before George Bailey (76 not out) and Steve Smith (46) snatched the game from India for the second time in three days.
The Indian bowlers were disappointing yet again. They never managed to threaten the Aussies, who scored at will and paced their chase to perfection yet again. Ishant Sharma (1-60), playing an ODI after 354 days, was especially wayward and undid the good work done by his new-ball partner Barinder Sran (0-51). Ishant was also guilty of dropping Marsh early in his innings.
Indian skipper MS Dhoni once again won the toss and elected to bat. The visitors made one change to their eleven, bringing in Ishant for Bhuvneshwar Kumar. Australia brought in Shaun Marsh for David Warner, while John Hastings and Kane Richardson came in for the rested Mitchell Marsh and Josh Hazlewood.
The ease with which the Aussies chased the huge target was once again a masterclass in handling pressure. Marsh (84 balls, 5 fours) and Finch (81 balls, 7 fours, 1 six) started cautiously, but were helped by a number of extra deliveries bowled by the Indian pacers.
Rohit lucky
Earlier, Rohit Sharma scored 124 and was aided well by Kohli and Rahane even as the batting order once again stuttered in the death overs. Shikhar Dhawan failed yet again, caught behind in the third over when he slashed at Joel Paris.
Kohli and Rohit started off well and the 50-mark came up in the 11th over, and the two put on their 50-run stand in just 57 balls. The two batsmen looked set for a long stay together once again, when Kohli was dismissed against the run of play. He went for a quick double even as Rohit tried to send him back, and was run-out in the 24th over. The two added 125 for the second wicket.
Rahane came in to calm things down and tried to keep Rohit at the batting end; Rohit used this to good effect, but was lucky to be not given out after he had edged Paris to wicketkeeper Matthew Wade.
Rohit brought up his century in the 37th over, off 112 balls, after lingering in the 90s for a bit — he moved from 90 to 100 in 18 balls.
Rohit’s luck finally ran out, and his 121-run partnership with Rahane came to an end, when he was run out at the non-striker’s end after James Faulkner deflected Rahane’s hit onto the stumps.
From there onwards, India struggled to get away in the death overs, despite Rahane bringing up his 14th ODI fifty in the 41st over. Dhoni (11) was caught at long on off Scott Boland (1-64) and then there was a flurry of wickets in the end. India scored 75 runs in their last 10 overs, but only a painful 38/5 in the last five.
Scoreboard
India
R Sharma run out 124
S Dhawan c Wade b Paris 6
V Kohli run out 59
A Rahane c Smith b Faulkner 89
MS Dhoni c Maxwell b Boland 11
M Pandey c Paris b Faulkner 6
R Jadeja run out 5
R Ashwin c Boland b Hastings 1
U Yadav not out 0
Extras (w 7) 7
Total (8 wickets; 50 overs) 308
Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-134, 3-255, 4-276, 5-298, 6-302, 7-306, 8-308
Bowling
Joel Paris 8-0-40-1
Kane Richardson 8-1-61-0
Josh Hastings 8-0-46-1
Scott Boland 10-0-64-1
Glenn Maxwell 6-0-33-0
James Faulkner 10-0-64-2
Australia

A Finch c Rahane b Jadeja 71
S Marsh c Kohli b Sharma 71
S Smith b Yadav 46
G Bailey not out 76
G Maxwell not out 26
Extras (lb 7, w 11, nb 1) 19
Total (3 wickets; 49 overs) 309
Fall of wickets: 1-145, 2-166, 3-244
Bowling
Barinder Sran 9-1-51-0
Ishant Sharma 10-0-60-1
Umesh Yadav 10-0-74-1
Ravindra Jadeja 9-0-50-1
Ravichandran Ashwin 10-0-60-0
Virat Kohli 1-0-7-0

Numbers game
5 Number of ODI centuries Rohit Sharma has hit against Australia. Only Sachin Tendulkar (9) and Desmond Haynes (6) have more tons against the Aussies
2 Rohit and Vivian Richards are the only two batsmen to have registered three ODI centuries vs Australia in Australia
3 Rohit is the third batsman to hit back to back ODI tons against Australia in Australia. England’s Graeme Hick and India’s VVS Laxman are the other two

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