Mitchell Starc and Mitchell Marsh took over the proceedings in Vizag on Sunday as Australia crushed India by 10 wickets in a low-scoring second ODI to level the three-match series 1-1 after a dominant show with ball and bat.
Starc's ninth five-wicket haul helped the Aussies bundle India out for 117. Marsh then took the home team's attack to the cleaners with an unbeaten half-century as Australia crossed the finish line with 234 balls remaining to inflict the heaviest defeat on India in terms of deliveries to spare.
Starc floors India with pace and swing
Starc equalled Brett Lee and Shahid Afridi's tally to grab joint-third on the list of most five-fors in ODI cricket behind only Waqar Younis (13) and Muttiah Muralitharan (10).
Australia then took just 11 overs to chase down the target, which is the quickest win by any team against India in ODIs. New Zealand held the previous record when they gunned down 93/2 in 14.4 overs in Hamilton in 2019.
Nothing went according to the script for India as Starc kept picking wickets at regular intervals.
He removed openers Shubman Gill (0), Rohit Sharma (13) and Suryakumar Yadav (0) in the first five overs before sending back KL Rahul (9) to leave India reeling at 48 for 4.
Sean Abbott then got rid of vice-captain Hardik Pandya (1) as the hosts continued to slide further in their innings.
Virat Kohli and Axar Patel were the only two batters who got a start but failed to capitalise as they kept losing partners at the other end.
Kohli top-scored with 31 while Axar remained not out on 29 while the rest all failed to fire. Starc finished with 5 for 53 while Sean Abbott took three 3 and Nathan Ellis grabbed a couple as all 10 wickets fell to pace.
Marsh ends things quickly for AUS
Mitch Marsh then stole the show with the bat as he clobbered 66 off 36 balls with six fours and six sixes while his opening partner Travis Head also cashed in with 51 not out off 30 balls to help Australia race to victory.
The third and final ODI will be played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on March 22 with both teams level at 1-1.
