Australian opener Travis Head was delighted after the visitors obliterated India in the second ODI by 10 wickets at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Sunday. India was skittled out for a paltry score of 117 runs after Steve Smith decided to put the hosts into bat.
Subsequently, Travis Head and his opening partner Mitchell Marsh made a mockery of the run-chase as they got there in 11 overs, handing the heaviest ODI defeat to India (in terms of balls remaining, 234).
Head smashed 51 runs from 30 balls with the help of 10 fours whereas Mitchell Marsh scored a blistering knock of 66 runs off just 36 balls. Marsh blasted six fours and as many sixes in his blistering knock.
Both of these openers enjoyed themselves in the middle as they were able to hit the ground running. Australia reached the 50-run mark in only the fifth over of the innings as both Head and Marsh played aggressively and took the Indian bowling apart.
Travis Head said while talking to Star Sports after the win, “Nice to contribute, really good to get a partnership going. We were a bit settled today and took our time. Last game, I went hard early to push the envelope. It’s nice to have the big fellow (Marsh) at the other end when he hits them into the top tier. We were hoping that one of us gets away. It’s very rare that both of us go at the same time. Throughout my experience opening the batting, if one guy is going, you try to support that. Today it was a short total, we both felt like going. We played really calculated. It was a nice partnership, very enjoyable.”
On the other hand, Mitchell Marsh feels it was fun in the middle as he and Head were able to get going. Marsh also showered praise on Mitchell Starc, who returned with figures of 5-53 and scalped his ninth five-wicket haul.
Marsh said after the game, “It was a bit of fun. Always nice to get a good start when you’re chasing a small total like that. I was hoping Head would get off to a flier and I could play it slow. To be honest, I’ve been enjoying playing swing and batting up the order. (On Starc) He’s been brilliant, it is horrible standing at slip when he bowls because it flies at about 80 miles an hour off the edge. But it is great to see him bowl like this, we now have a rare chance to win an away series in India.”
The decider of the series will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Wednesday.
