Kuldeep’s bag of tricks

Subhash Rajta

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, September 21

On Thursday, all that could go wrong went wrong for Australia. Virat Kohli (92) finally snapped his lean run against them, Bhuvneshwar Kumar came up with a stunning spell upfront, and the spinners dealt telling blows, with Kuldeep Yadav picking up a hat-trick. In this backdrop, there could have been no result other than a comprehensive Indian win. And so it was, a comfortable 50-run win for the hosts to go 2-0 up in the series.

When India finished with just 252 runs on the board, thanks to a superb effort from the Australian pacers on an extremely humid day, the visitors appeared to be in the driver’s seat. That it wouldn’t be a walk in Eden Gardens for the Aussies became clear when Kumar began swinging the ball around considerably, and Jasprit Bumrah was as accurate as ever from the other end.  It wasn’t long before Kumar got his reward — he struck twice to remove openers Hilton Cartwright and David Warner, giving India the start they needed to defend what appeared to be a below-par total.

For Australia, now much depended on how skipper Steve Smith fared; and for India, the spinners’ overs were going to be the key. 

Interestingly, the Australian skipper continued his run-scoring spree against India with a fine half-century (59). But his effort was negated by the two wrist spinners, who ended up taking five wickets between them, Yuzvendra Chahal picking two and Yadav taking a hat-trick, to clean up Australia’s middle and lower middle order.  Though Yadav struggled in his first few overs with Glenn Maxwell hitting him for two consecutive sixes, Yadav came back really well to dismiss Mathew Wade, Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins to become the third ever Indian to pick up a hat-trick in ODIs. “It’s very special moment, I am really pleased,” said Yadav.

Kohli scores

Coming into the Kolkata ODI, the Indian skipper had tallied just 54 runs against the Aussies in his last seven innings, five in Tests and two in ODIs. Kohli started on a shaky note yet again, his first run coming off a thick edge flying past the third slip. Relieved, the India skipper put his head down, and got more careful against the deliveries leaving him. Gradually, his trademark cover drives began flowing, and so did his flicks to the on-side. He looked determined to make this one count, for the rather longish barren run against the Aussies must have started hurting his pride.

At the other end, Ajinkya Rahane, after two consecutive failures, too, was looking good. He didn’t blaze away but looked solid in his 64-ball 55. And just when he might have been thinking of upping the tempo, a fine throw caught him millimetres short of his crease. But by that time, his 102-run partnership with Kohli had already propelled India to a comfortable position (121/2) after an early loss of Rohit Sharma, who fell for 7.

Meanwhile, Kohli motored along. And if Kohli stays in the middle long enough, it’s almost certain that some words will be exchanged. Today was no exception as Kohli had a  chat with Marcus Stoinis, and soon wicketkeeper Mathew Wade, too, joined in. Despite the obvious distraction, Kohli did not lose his calm and kept moving towards what would have been his 31st hundred. 

But when he needed eight more runs to reach the three-figure mark, Kohli deflected a Nathan Coulter-Nile delivery on to his stumps, leaving Eden Gardens stunned.

Turning point

It proved to be the turning point in the Indian innings. With Manish Pandey and Kedar Jadhav falling quickly, Kohli needed to stay on longer. To make matters worse, MS Dhoni, too, perished soon after and Hardik Pandya failed to repeat his Chennai pyrotechnics, thanks to some superb bowling by the Australian pacers. 

All this meant India managed to post a below-par 252.

Scoreboard

India

A Rahane run out 55

R Sharma c&b Coulter-Nile 7

V Kohli b Coulter-Nile 92

M Pandey b Agar 3

K Jadhav c Maxwell b Coulter-Nile 24

MS Dhoni c Smith b Richardson 5

H Pandya c Warner b Richardson 20

B Kumar c Maxwell b Richardson 20

K Yadav c Wade b Cummins 0

J Bumrah not out 10

Y Chahal run out 1

Extras: (B-1 NB-1 W-13) 13

Total: (all out in 50 overs) 252

FOW: 1-19 2-121 3-131 4-186 5-197 6-204 7-239 8-239 9-246

Bowling

P Cummins 10-1-34-1

N Coulter-Nile 10-0 -51-3

K Richardson 10-0-55-3

M Stoinis 9-0-46-0

A Agar 9-0-54-1

T Head 2-0-11-0

Australia

H Cartwright b Kumar 1

D Warner c Rahane b Kumar 1

S Smith c sub (R Jadeja) b Pandya 59

T Head c Pandey b Chahal 39

G Maxwell st Dhoni b Chahal 14

M Stoinis not out 62

M Wade b K Yadav 2

A Agar lbw b K Yadav 0

P Cummins c Dhoni b K Yadav 0

N Coulter-Nile c&b Pandya 8

K Richardson lbw b Kumar 0

Extras: (B-4, LB-6, W-6) 16

Total: (all out in 43.1 overs) 202

FOW: 1-2 2-9 3-85 4-106 5-138 6-148 7-148 8-148 9-182

Bowling

B Kumar 6.1-2-9-3

J Bumrah 7-1-39-0

H Pandya 10-0-56-2

Y Chahal 10-1-34-2

K Yadav        10-1-54-3 

MoM: Virat Kohli