Mitchell Starc produced a masterclass in new-ball swing bowling before openers Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head hammered rapid fifties to complete a knockout performance against India and level the series 1-1.
India received a thrashing like no other in Visakhapatnam - their heaviest defeat in terms of balls remaining - when they were bowled out for 117 in just 26 overs.
Starc was the tormentor in chief with his 5 for 53, his ninth five-for in ODIs, and gave Marsh and Head freedom to bat with no scoreboard pressure; Marsh raced to 28-ball fifty before Head got to his in 29 balls and Australia chased the target down in just 11 overs.
Starc got deliveries to swing in as well as angle across to the right-hand batters in equal measure. His work up top allowed Sean Abbott and Nathan Ellis to join hands and run through the lower middle order thereafter. In all, the Australian bowlers were done with their shift inside two hours and 20 minutes, with the three seamers sharing all ten wickets.
When Starc got the deliveries to angle across, he tempted Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma to drive away from their bodies, only for both to get dismissed cheaply. Gill was the first to go, out for a duck in the first over, when he chased a full and wide delivery and drove to point, in what was a repeat of his dismissal from the Mumbai ODI. Rohit, returning to the side in place of Ishan Kishan, was out in the fifth over. He had had moved to 13 by relying on leg-side flicks, but then swung big against a wide ball to edge to first slip.
Chief scores:
Australia: 121 for 0 (Marsh 66*, Head 51*)
India: 117 (Kohli 31, Starc 5-53, Abbott 3-23). (Cricinfo)
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