Add Category
A Mitchell Starc masterclass and a T20-style knock from Mitchell Marsh have lifted Australia to a crushing 10-wicket ODI victory over India in a match that lasted just 37 overs.
Starc claimed 5-53 off eight overs in Sunday's clash in Vizag to help skittle India for a paltry 117 in 26 overs.
In reply, Marsh cracked six sixes and six fours on the way to posting 66no off 36 balls, with Travis Head (51no off 30 balls) a handy ally.
Australia reached the victory target in just 11 overs.
The result levelled the three-match series at 1-1 heading into Wednesday's finale in Chennai.
Marsh only opened in the first two matches due to the absence of David Warner, who missed the first match to give him more time to recover from a hairline fracture in his elbow.
Warner was due to play on Sunday, but a corked quad kept him out.
Marsh scored 81 off 65 balls in Friday's five-wicket loss to India, and he continued to bludgeon India's attack in game two.
His hot form as a fill-in opener has given Australia food for thought ahead of this year's World Cup in India.
The highlight of Sunday's match belonged to Steve Smith, who dived full length to his right at first slip to pull off a stunning one-handed catch to send Hardik Pandya packing for one.
Smith was in the air and horizontal when he took the catch, and the stand-in skipper was mobbed by his teammates in the aftermath.
Although Marsh and Head provided the fireworks with the bat, it was Starc who set up the win with a blistering display.
The left-armer started the destruction in the opening over by tempting Shubman Gill (0) into a loose shot, with Marnus Labuschagne gobbling up the catch at backward point.
Smith gave Starc his second wicket with a juggling effort at slip to dismiss Rohit Sharma for 13.
And when Suryakumar Yadav was dismissed lbw by Starc for a golden duck for the second straight match, the Australian pace ace was on a hat-trick.
KL Rahul blocked out the hat-trick ball but was trapped in front by Starc a short time later, reducing India to 4-48.
Smith's stunner at slip — off the bowling of Sean Abbott — made it 5-49, and Nathan Ellis snared the prized scalps of Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja (16) as India crashed to 7-91 in the 20th over.
Starc was struck for consecutive sixes by Axar Patel when he returned for another spell but finished the innings by bowling Mohammed Siraj.
Only Waqar Younis (13) and Muttiah Muralitharan (10) have more five-wicket hauls in ODI cricket than Starc's nine.
"We saw a clinic there from Mitch today, as we've seen before," Abbott said of Starc's heroics.
Abbott (3-23) and Nathan Ellis (2-13) produced handy cameos.
Virat Kohli (31) top scored for his side, with Patel (29no) the only other batter to put up any fight.
It was India's third-lowest ODI total against Australia, behind 63 at the SCG in 1981, and 100 also in Sydney in 2000.
It was also India's fourth lowest total in ODIs in India against all comers.