Bahut Badhiya Jeet, Says Virender Sehwag After India's Thrilling Win In Second ODI

Former India batsman Virender Sehwag lavished praise on Team India after their thrilling eight-wicket win over Australia in the second ODI.

Virat Kohli and Vijay Shankar starred as the Men in Blue continued their winning streak in ODIs over Australia. Asked to bat first, India posted 250 with skipper Kohli playing a sublime knock of 116. India started their innings on a poor note as Rohit Sharma departed in the very first over for a six-ball duck.  Shikhar Dhawan, who had registered a duck in the previous game,  and Virat Kohli then calmed down the nerves in the dressing room but the two could not big a build partnership. Dhawan was looking in his elements as he had already struck four boundaries to race away to 21.

But before the duo could lay the foundation for a big total, Dhawan threw away his wicket by playing a poor shot of the bowling of Glenn Maxwell. Consequently, India found themselves 2 down for just 38 runs. The onus was now on skipper Kohli to bail the team out of trouble in company of his teammates. Well, Kohli did play his part to perfection but got little support from the other hand. Ambati Rayudu failed to deliver for the second game in a row this series before Vijay Shankar, promoted in the batting order, eased the pressure off Kohli with some string of boundaries.

???#INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/OTkDUVG25u

— BCCI (@BCCI) March 5, 2019

The duo looked set to bat India to a position of strength before Adam Zampa broke the stand by running Shankar out. The allrounder scored 46 off 41 balls en route his 81-run stand. India then suffered two big setbacks in quick succession. Last game’s heroes Kedar Jadhav and MS Dhoni departed on successive deliveries as the hosts found themselves reeling on 171 for 6 from 156 for 3.

However, Kohli remained firm from his end and went on to score a fine century, his 40th in ODIs.

He was well supported by Ravindra Jadeja (21) as the duo added 67 runs for the seventh wicket to take the score close to the 250-run mark. The hosts then suffered another collapse towards the end, losing their last four wickets for just 12 runs to get all out for 250 from 238 for 6.

In reply, Australia came up with a good show but fell short by eight runs.  The visitors started brilliantly with their openers Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja adding 83 runs. However, both the batsmen departed on the same score while Glenn Maxwell and Shaun Marsh too failed to get going. Peter Handscomb and Marcus Stoinis tried to resurrect the innings before the former was run out for 48.

Stoinis held firm from one end and went on to compile a fine fifty. The equation was finally down to 11 off the last over. Shankar then delivered a stunning over by conceding just two runs and castling Stoinis and Adam Zampa to end the game with three balls remaining.

After the game, Virender Sehwag took to Twitter to praise the team while also pointing out the notable performers.

“Brilliant century from Virat , outstanding death over bowling from Bumrah and Vijay Shankar holding his nerves really well in the end. Bahut badhiya jeet,” tweeted Virender Sehwag.

Brilliant century from Virat , outstanding death over bowling from Bumrah and Vijay Shankar holding his nerves really well in the end. Bahut badhiya jeet. #INDvAUS

— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) March 5, 2019