IND-AUS 2025 2nd ODI Highlights: Australia Outplay India Again To Seal The Series
Another day, another collapse — India’s toss curse and middle-order woes hand Australia an easy series win. Harsh Pareek writes.
Last Updated: 08.30 PM, Oct 23, 2025
AFTER A WET AND FORGETTABLE opening ODI in Perth that lasted less than 50 overs and saw Australia shrug off India’s challenge rather effortlessly, the gloriously sunny skies of Adelaide offered the hosts a chance to now clinch the three-game series. For the middling Indian side hoping to turn things around urgently, much of the pre-match conversation once more revolved around the two veteran superstars who predictably struggled in their return to the format after some seven months away — Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
Despite a seven-wicket loss in the first outing, the all-rounder-obsessed India stuck to the same XI, leaving the specialist unorthodox spinner Kuldeep Yadav once again on the bench, while Australia saw the return of Alex Carey from Sheffield Shield, with legspinner Adam Zampa and swing bowler Xavier Bartlett also joining the day's lineup. But there was a sense of déjà vu from the get-go for the visitors as they lost their 17th consecutive toss in ODIs (a world record streak), and Australia opted to bowl first.
At a venue where India hadn't lost since 2008 — and the stands packed in blue — the team fancied themselves to level the series and hoped the relatively shorter boundaries would help them give a quick start. It was anything but. Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood picked up from where they had left off in the last match, with relentless precision, giving the Indian openers no room to breathe. While the pitch had less bounce than Perth, Sharma started tentatively and had an early scare with a run out. But it was the captain, Shubman Gill, who looked more comfortable and confident, to fall first at the hands of Bartlett in the sixth over, taking his moment to shine in the absence of Pat Cummins. Not unlike the first ODI, it was an unlikely shot from Gill that sent a tame shot flying to Australian skipper Mitchell Marsh for an easy catch. An underwhelming start to his ODI captaincy, with scores of 10 and 9.
But Bartlett wasn't done yet, and just three deliveries later in the same over, he sent Kohli — who had walked out to much fanfare in one of his favourite away grounds — packing with his second straight duck (a first in his remarkable ODI career). An inswinger trapped the star lbw — something you don't often see — which only goes to show how rusty he might be away from any competitive play.
With just 29 for two in 10 overs, Sharma continued to struggle as he tried to survive the pace onslaught, with Shreyas Iyer, the new batsman, not doing much better either. Boundaries were elusive, but the two dug in, patiently waiting for their chance, which came in the form of Australia's sixth bowling option, Mitchell Owen.
With no further losses and a partnership beginning to take shape by the 20th over, spin was introduced in the form of Adam Zampa and Cooper Connolly. Meanwhile, Sharma looked a little more confident as he brought up a hard-fought 50, and the duo began to open up more as the overs ticked on. But it would be an innocuous delivery from Starc that would send Sharma packing — caught by Hazlewood — 73 off 97 in the 30th over, just as the former skipper looked set to put on a big score. Nevertheless, amidst all this, Sharma overtook Sourav Ganguly to move into third place on India's ODI runs list.
And just like that, as India was building some momentum, Zampa got another breakthrough as Iyer got a thick inside edge onto the stumps, going 61 for 77. KL Rahul would soon follow, as Zampa stacked up four wickets for 44, all the while as Hazlewood helped maintain relentless pressure on the visitors.
Axar Patel tried to restore some order — carrying his first-rate form from Perth — but was taken out by a clever and elegant catch by Starc at the boundary, cool as you like. He fell 44 off 41 balls, before the tail end also managed to put some runs on the board with Harshit Rana and Arshdeep Singh.
India closed the innings at 264 for nine, a bigger total than one would have anticipated for the majority of the match, and an innings where the team couldn't quite get going despite Rohit and Iyer’s 118-run third-wicket partnership.
It wasn't a smooth start for Australia's batting either, with Marsh and Travis Head struggling to get things going early on, and the former falling to Singh for 11 off 24. In the absence of the otherworldly talents of Jasprit Bumrah, both Singh and Mohammed Siraj did well, but in the end, not quite enough.
Along with Patel, Rana and Washington Sundar, India's bowling attack managed to keep things under check for a while — managing to pick up Matt Renshaw and Carey's wickets at the right times — but a 74 off 78 by Matthew Short (who is well familiar with the ground, having dominated for Adelaide Strikers in the BBL) and 61 off 53 by Connolly, not to mention the supporting act of 36 off 23 by Owen, meant that Australia were never stretched in their chase. They successfully tackled it with two wickets and 22 balls remaining.
In a scene that strangely summed up India's outing so far, all three of the team's primary bowlers — Siraj, Singh and Patel — found themselves cramped up all at once, spread out on the field taking treatment. A scene of comic disarray. It's been an underwhelming series, which has seen a heightened focus on a couple of cricketing greats who have fallen short of their legendary standards. The team hasn't gelled well, and a sense of uncertainty hangs in the air. For their final ODI outing in Sydney, India would surely like to avoid a whitewash. With nothing much to lose, perhaps this will free up the management to give the likes of Yadav and Yashasvi Jaiswal a chance.