Adelaide sees India try to stay alive as Australia look to seal the series in conditions expected to be batting-friendly.
With the first ODI being relatively forgettable due to heavy rain in Perth, this Australian international summer—hailed as maybe the largest cricket season ever—started off with a bang.
However, Australia dominated a match that lasted less than fifty overs, and a win in Adelaide would allow them to secure the three-game series. There were some noteworthy lessons for both teams, even though the spectators who put up with the continuous rain delays would never remember the series opener. It was even more frustrating because it hardly rained during certain pauses.
Australia may have been most pleased with the new-ball performance of Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, who dominated India’s top order until the rainy weather arrived. On a pitch that will host the first Ashes Test in a month, Hazlewood in particular enjoyed the added bounce and pace.
Winning this series is crucial for Australia as they try to restore consistency in 50-over cricket following a poor run, even though the Ashes currently dominates almost everything in the country.
The team’s depth during a transition leading up to the 2027 World Cup was bolstered by the strong performances of periphery players Matt Kuhnemann and Josh Philippe as well as ODI debutants Matthew Renshaw and Mitchell Owen.
However, aside from a late appearance by rookie Nitish Kumar Reddy and a strong new-ball stint from left-arm quick Arshdeep Singh, India had very little to lose in the opening ODI.
While Shubman Gill recently had a rare setback in his ODI captaincy debut, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma also had difficult returns. For those who participated in the Delhi Test against the West Indies, which concluded just on October 14, it was an especially tight turnaround because India had not played well in 50 overs since the Champions Trophy.
If they want to force a series decider, India will undoubtedly pose a far more difficult test in Adelaide. Like in Perth, the sellout crowd in Adelaide should be mostly filled with blue shirts to again underline India’s heft in the sport.