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Australia have gone 2-0 down in their one-day international series against India after collapsing in Kolkata.
Set 253 for victory, the visitors lost their last eight wickets for 117 runs with a hat-trick to left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav sealing Thursday’s match at Eden Gardens.
After falling 50 runs short in the second of five ODIs, Australia now need to win Sunday’s match in Indore to keep the series alive.
The captain Steve Smith looked like he could guide Australia home in his 100th ODI, but after a measured half-century he was caught on 59.
Smith pulled a Hardik Pandya short ball to deep square leg where substitute fielder Ravindra Jadeja came off the boundary to take an impressive catch.
Two overs after Smith’s dismissal, Yadav weaved his magic to dismiss Matthew Wade, Ashton Agar and Pat Cummins with consecutive deliveries.
Wade chopped a wide, sharp-turning ball back on to his stumps before Agar was out lbw. Cummins walked out to the middle and was greeted with a superb wrong’un which found the edge and lodged in MS Dhoni’s gloves.
Marcus Stoinis top scored with a gallant innings, but ran out of partners and was left unbeaten on 62. Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal (2-34) again exposed Australia’s deficiency against wrist spin, combining for five wickets as they did in game one in Chennai. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was superb with 3-9 off 6.1 overs.
Maxwell came to the crease with the score at 3-85 and swatted back-to-back sixes off Kuldeep to get off the mark. But soon after he was bamboozled by Chahal and Dhoni pounced on the chance to stump him on 14.
Openers David Warner and Hilton Cartwright both fell to Kumar for one, while Travis Head made a run-a-ball 39.
Earlier, Nathan Coulter-Nile was again Australia’s most damaging bowler, picking up 3-51 off his 10 overs in oppressive conditions.
The West Australian paceman again claimed the prized scalp of Virat Kohli, but the Indian captain had already done the damage with a beautifully compiled 92 off 107 balls.
A huge score loomed when he had combined for a 102-run partnership with Ajinkya Rahane (55 off 64), but the opener was run out by Hilton Cartwright and India went on to lose their last seven wickets for 66.
Australia felt the full force of the stifling Kolkata heat while bowling with Wade, Ashton Agar and Kane Richardson all receiving treatment for heat stress or cramps.
(GUARDIAN)
