The batting clicked on Tuesday, but the bowling not so much. In the 2nd ODI against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane, India will hope both aspects of the game work seamlessly as MS Dhoni's men attempt to level this five-match one-day international series.
[India vs Australia 2nd ODI Live Score and Blog]
With Rohit Sharma hitting one of those ridiculous big hundreds again against Australia and Virat Kohli finding plenty of form with the bat as well, India posted a solid 309 in the first innings of the first ODI. However, George Bailey and Steve Smith made mincemeat out of India's bowling to cruise to victory, leaving Dhoni with plenty of posers.
Too often in ODI cricket for India of late, the two key facets of the game have failed to click together. If the bowling comes up trumps, the bating fails and vice versa. Dhoni has been asking for a complete performance from his team for a while now, and to beat the world champions and No.1 ODI team in the world at their own backyard, you need to be near-perfect. So, the bowling needs to step up and so does the batting, with that fielding needed to be of the highest order as well – there were a couple of moments in the game when the course of the match might have turned had India managed a direct hit.
With conditions at the Gabba expected to be not too dissimilar from the one in Perth, India can expect another flat track that will come onto the bat with that bit of extra bounce. That means, Dhoni might just have to consider playing an extra pacer for the second spinner, even if that looks unlikely at the moment.
Rohit, though, is expecting the Brisbane wicket to have a lot more juice than the flat as a pancake one at the WACA. "Conditions will be very similar to what we had in Perth," Rohit said in the pre-match press conference. "We might get a bit of extra bounce here I guess.
"Perth was a little bit on the slower side once the shine was taken off the ball. Here the fast bowlers might get a little more assistance through the longer period."
Australia will have no worries about the pitch or, indeed, their form. They know they have the ability to chase down any total put in front of them, particularly with the kind of form Smith is in against the Indians. While the bowling was not the greatest in the first one-day international, Smith will hope his young pacers have learnt their lessons and will improve for the second one-day international on Friday.
The one thing that could act in India's favour, or even Australia's, depending on the situation at the time, is rain. Wet weather has been predicted for Friday in Brisbane, particularly towards the second half of the match, which means batting second might be the better option, in order to be able to gauge the target correctly when/if the Duckworth-Lewis system comes into play.
Where to Watch Live
Read what Dhoni and Smith said after the match HERE
Get the highlights of the first innings HERE
Get India vs Australia live blog and Score HERE
India vs Australia 2nd ODI match is scheduled for a 1.20 pm local time (8.50 am IST, 2.20 pm AEDT, 3.20 am GMT, 10.20 pm ET) start. As always, Star Sports 1, Star Sports 3, Star Sports HD1 and Star Sports HD3 are the places to be to watch this one-day match live in India and the rest of the subcontinent. Starsports online and Hotstar will also provide the live streaming online options.
Channel 9 will broadcast the match live in Australia, while the action can also be live streamed on Cricket Australia Live. Viewers in the UK can flip their remotes to Sky Sports1, with the live stream option on Watch Sky Sports live.
Willow TV is the place to be to watch Australia vs India live in the US, with the live stream option on Willow TV Online.
OSN Cricket and OSN Play will show the match live in the Middle East and UAE, while SuperSport and SuperSport Live video will do the same in Sub Saharan Africa and South Africa.
