2nd ODI: India beat Australia by 8 runs to take 2-0 lead
Nagpur, Mar 5: Indian bowlers delivered in a heart-stopping climax to fashion a narrow eight-run victory against Australia in the second ODI after skipper Virat Kohli conjured up a resolute hundred in testing conditions, here Tuesday.
Pacer Vijay Shankar scalped the last two Australian batsmen in the final over in which Australia needed to score 11 runs for a series-levelling win.
Handing the ball to medium pacer Shankar at the make-or-break situation was a bold decision by skipper Kohli, who had the option of employing Kedar Jadhav as well.
Chasing 251, Australia were 240 for eight when Shankar got rid of dangerous Marcus Stoinis (52) in the very first ball of the 50th over and castled Adam Zampa in the third ball to trigger celebrations in the Indian camp.
Before that, pacer Jasprit Bumrah (2/19), who is ever-reliable in death overs, dismissed Nathan Coulter-Nile and Pat Cummins in space of three balls in the 46th over and conceded just one run in the 48th over, playing a crucial role in India's win after the spinners had choked the Australians in the middle overs.
It was Stoinis who had kept the visitors in hunt as he resisted the unrelenting Indian attack with aplomb and added 47-runs for the sixth wicket with Alex Carey (22).
Kohli's 40th ODI century steered India to a competitive 250 after a middle-order collapse on a dry surface at the VCA stadium but it proved to be just enough in the end as India earned the win with just three balls to spare.
India now lead the five-match series 2-0 with third match slated for Friday in Ranchi.
The Indian skipper was in good touch and played some delightful drives whenever the ball was pitched up. In conditions which tested the fitness of each and every player, Kohli struck only 10 boundaries and ran a lot of singles and twos in his 116-run knock.
He was at the crease till the start of the 48th over, facing 120 balls in an innings which will rank among one of his top ODI knocks in recent times.
Australia were off to a fluent start with openers Aaron Finch (37) and Usman Khawaja (38) adding 83 runs at a decent pace but the spinners led by Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav (3/54) not only put the brakes on run-rate but also hurt the visitors by taking wickets intermittently.
Kuldeep broke the opening stand by trapping Finch and later sent back dangerous Glenn Maxwell (4) and Carey while Jadhav and Jadeja accounted for Khawaja and Shaun Marsh respectively.
Stoinis and Carey took the Aussie chase deep with their dogged batting but Kuldeep turned the tide in India's favour by dismissing the latter.
After the first innings, it was clear that spinners will shape the outcome of the match and Kuldeep along with Ravindra Jadeja and Kedar Jadhav did strangulate the Australian innings.
Between overs 13 and 33 the Indian bowlers conceded just one boundary.
Kuldeep, who was the most impressive bowler on show, was taken to cleaners by the two Aussies who creamed off 15 runs in the 43rd over to ease some pressure.
The two batsmen showed tremendous grit under pressure but Kuldeep provided the much-needed breakthrough by castling Carey, who dragged it on his stumps.
Earlier, Kohli steadily build the Indian innings even as he saw the fall of colleagues Shikhar Dhawan (21) and Ambati Rayudu (18).
Dhawan looked in good touch as he too hit some crushing boundaries before being trapped by part-timer Maxwell.
Rayudu struggled to rotate strike as the ball was not coming on to the bat and was eventually adjudged leg before off Lyon.
Kohli got a good ally in Vijay Shankar (46 off 41) with whom he added 81 runs for the fourth wicket but the latter was unfortunately run out when he backed up too far at the non-striker's end to a Kohli straight drive.
Leg-spinner Adam Zampa then got rid of Kedar Jadhav (11) and M S Dhoni (0) off successive balls but Kohli held one end up.
He completed his hundred by cutting one from Nathan Coulter-Nile to the square boundary.
The innings approaching the end, acceleration was required but Ravindra Jadeja could only manage 21 off 40 balls and was soon removed by Cummins. Kohli was finally dismissed while trying to pull Pat Cummins.
Kuldeep Yadav and Jasprit Bumrah too perished in a jiffy and India could not even bat for full 50 overs.
Brief scores:
India: 250 all out in 48.2 overs (Virat Kohli 116; Pat Cummins 4/29).
Australia: 242 all out in 49.3 overs (Marcus Stoinis 52; Kuldeep Yadav 3/54).
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Death toll in attack on Kyiv apartment building now stands at 24
Kyiv (AP): Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday that a Russian missile attack on a Kyiv apartment building the previous day killed 24 people, including what local officials said were three teenagers.
Emergency workers finished digging through the building's rubble after more than a day, Zelenskyy said on X.
The cruise missile hit the nine-story corner block during what the Ukrainian air force said was Russia's biggest barrage of the country since its all-out invasion.
The assault mostly targeted the Ukrainian capital, where 48 people were wounded, including two children, Zelenskyy said.
Russia hammered Ukraine with large-scale aerial attacks in the days following a May 9-11 ceasefire that US President Donald Trump said he asked Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe. Fighting went on over those 72 hours, although reportedly on a lesser scale.
This week's attacks ran counter to recent suggestions from Trump and Putin that the war, now in its fifth year, is close to ending.
Zelenskyy said Thursday that Moscow had launched more than 1,560 drones against Ukrainian population centres since Wednesday. In all, some 180 sites across the country were damaged, including more than 50 residential buildings, he said.
Previously, the biggest Russian drone attack was from the evening of March 23 to the evening of March 24 when Moscow's forces fired nearly 1,000 drones and missiles at Ukraine.
Ukraine has also built up significant long-range capabilities, and Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday that air defences downed 355 drones overnight in one of the largest Ukrainian drone attacks of the war.
Several airports suspended flights overnight because of the attacks.
Also, a Ukrainian drone attack on Ryazan, about 100 kilometres (60 miles) southeast of Moscow, killed four people, including a child, Ryazan Governor Pavel Malkov said.
After the attack, massive plumes of black smoke spewed from a fire at a local oil refinery. Ukraine has targeted Russian oil facilities in an effort to deny vital export revenue for Moscow and rattle the Kremlin.
Ukrainian officials made no immediate comment about the Ryazan strike.
The Ukrainian capital observed an official day of mourning Friday in remembrance of those killed Thursday, and Zelenskyy visited the site.
The cruise missile that hit the apartment building was built in the second quarter of this year, Zelenskyy said, apparently after Ukrainian experts analyzed the wreckage.
“This means Russia is still importing the components, resources and equipment necessary for missile production in circumvention of global sanctions,” Zelenskyy said in another post on X late Thursday.
“Stopping Russia's sanctions evasion schemes must be a genuine priority for all our partners,” he said.
Russia and Ukraine have continued to occasionally swap prisoners of war, and 205 from each country returned home Friday.
Zelenskyy said it was the first phase of a planned 1,000-for-1,000 prisoner swap. Some of the Ukrainians released had been held in Russian captivity since 2022, he said, and had fought in some of the war's fiercest battles.
Russia's Defence Ministry confirmed the exchange and thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping broker it.
