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Melbourne: A superb bowling by Mitchell Starc (6-43) and a well compiled 96 by Aaron Finch as Australia completed a jittery four-wicket win over India at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Mitchell Starc made it back-to-back man-of-the-match performances.
The home side were cruising at 216 for in pursuit of 268, but a stirring Indian fightback saw a collapse of 4-32 before Brad Haddin (13 off 11) and specialist finisher Faulkner (9 off 9) iced the game with an over to spare.
Aaron Finch fell within one shot of his sixth ODI ton as he, Steve Smith (47 off 42) and Shane Watson (41 off 39) added the starch to Australia’s innings before the late scare.
India opener Rohit Sharma scored the highest one-day international score between the two countries at the MCG with 138.
Rohit made 138 to anchor the Indian innings
Sharma was well supported by Suresh Raina (51 off 63), but the tourists fell away in the final overs, losing 4-30 in the last six.
While Sharma was motoring along to a 68-ball fifty, Raina was providing the support and building the crucial partnership that England lacked in match 1 on Friday.
The pair batted for 22 overs and added 126 to give the visitors the much sought after momentum, but just after Raina joined Sharma in the half-century club, he holed out to mid-on to the disgust of his partner at the non-striker’s end.
Driving, pulling, crashing and bashing, Australia’s openers took the attack to the attack, posting a 50-run stand in 52 balls.
But just as Warner was looking like going big again for the second-straight match, his bubbling aggression burst, top-edging Umesh Yadav to go for 24 from 22 balls.
The wicket of Australia’s dynamic opening batsman brought two men in need of a run together, and the new man Shane Watson took off where Warner left, hitting five boundaries in his first 20 balls to maintain the hosts’ forward progress.
Another half-century stand, this one off 62 balls, solidified Australia’s dominance, but just when Watson was looking like breaking the shackles of poor form, an unnecessary sweep well outside off-stump was missed and he was gone for 41.
Where Watson’s impatience got the better of him, Finch’s determination was rewarded with an 80-ball fifty, and if he ever needed a reminder of the benefit of patience, his new partner Steve Smith was a glowing example.
Earlier, India have won the toss and have opted to bat.
Gurinder Sandhu to make his ODI debut for Australia, he replaced Xavier Doherty. India rested Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel has been picked for India. And the quicks are Bhuvi, Umesh and Shami.
Teams
Australia: Aaron Finch, David Warner, Shane Watson, Steven Smith, George Bailey (Capt.), Glenn Maxwell, Brad Haddin (wk), James Faulkner, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Gurinder Sandhu
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (Capt. & wk), Akshar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav
Brief scores
India - 267/8 (Sharma 138, Raina 51, Starc 6-43)
Australia - 269/6 (Finch 96, Smith 47, Yadav 2-55)
Result - Australia won by 4 wickets
Points - Australia 4, India 0
