IND vs AUS: Mitchell Starc rips apart Indian batting lineup with back-to-back wickets

Mitchell Starc and Virat Kohli. (Photo Source: Twitter)

After having put to bat first by the hosts in the ongoing first ODI at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, Australia were bundled out for a below par score of 188. For India, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj took three-wicket hauls in their respective spells. Speaking of the chase, India did not get to best of the starts, losing the scalp of Ishan Kishan (3 off 8 balls) off Marcus Stoinis.

With the southpaw’s dismissal, Virat Kohli walked into the middle in the third over of the innings. Kohli hit a wonderful straight-drive off Stoinis, however, it remained as his only scoring shot, as he fell prey to Mitchell Starc’s searing inswinger.

Kohli was trapped in front of the stumps, and did not even mind taking the review, as the verdict was quite obvious considering the line and length of the ball. The 34-year-old never seemed to be comfortable facing the Aussie bowler. Earlier, Starc had bowled a peach of a delivery outside off-stump, beating the right-handed batter’s outside edge.

Post Kohli’s dismissal, in came Suryakumar Yadav at No. 4 in an attempt to steady the ship after losing two wickets in quick succession. However, the lefty pacer bowled a good-length ball, which hit the pads of the batter. However, the umpire thought the ball was missing the stumps. 

Australia take a successful review to get the big wicket of Suryakumar

Aussie skipper Steve Smith immediately went for the appeal looking at the confidence in appeal of the bowler and the keeper. The review by the Kangaroos turned out to be successful, as the review showed ‘three-reds’, and the original decision was overturned by the on-field umpire. Starc will now be on a hattrick, when he comes into bowl in the next over, having already dismissed two of India’s in-form batters.

The Men in Yellow will now look to continue their momentum, and will need to bowl tight to contain the Indian batting lineup before they reach their target. For India, on the other hand, the onus will now be on skipper Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul, who will now look to get the team through chasing a rather lower target. 

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