VISAKHAPATNAM, India (AP) — Put in to bat in bowling friendly conditions, India made a poor start. Shubman Gill was out caught for a duck in Starc’s first over.
Rohit Sharma (13) and Virat Kohli added 29 runs for the second wicket, the most for an Indian pair on the day before the collapse began in earnest.
Starc had Sharma caught at slip in the fifth over, and then trapped Suryakumar Yadav lbw for a golden duck.
He also trapped Lokesh Rahul for nine runs leaving India down to 48-4. In the next over, Abbott removed Hardik Pandya for one run with the score reading 49-5 in 9.2 overs.
Kohli top-scored with 31 runs off 35 balls and added 22 runs with Ravindra Jadeja, who scored 16 off 39 balls.
That slowed the fall of wickets as India crossed the 50-run mark. However, any chance of an Indian revival was negated when Ellis trapped Kohli lbw in the 16th over.
Jadeja added another 20 runs with Axar Patel to edge closer to the 100-run mark, before falling to Ellis.
Abbott helped mop up the tail, while Starc returned to complete his fiver, bowling Mohammed Siraj for a duck.
In between, Patel smacked two sixes to help India past 100, albeit that didn’t spare the hosts’ embarrassment. He scored 29 not out off 29 balls, including a four and two sixes even as India was bowled out for its lowest total against Australia at home. Its previous lowest score was 148 at Vadodara in 2007.a
Australia won the game by 10 wickets. Meanwhile, Rohit refused to drop Suryakumar despite his ordinary performances in ODIs.
“I have said it many a times before, guys with potential will be given a longer run. Things are there in Suryakumar Yadav’s mind as well. Guys with potential will have enough run so that they don’t feel like oky I wasn’t given chances to prove myself,” said Rohit Sharma.