Who will win the 2nd ODI – India, Australia or Rain?

New Delhi : Cricket is on Kolkata’s mind but there’s rain in the air and no sight of green at the Eden Gardens that has remained under covers in run-up to the second one-day international between India and Australia on Thursday. If anything that’s almost certain, it’s rain interruption and assistance for fast bowlers on a moist deck.India broke jail to win the first ODI on Sunday, recovering from 11/3, 64/4 and 87/5 – thanks to a rockstar knock from Hardik Pandya (83) and Dhoni’s pious 79 runs. Incidentally, the first match was also marred by rain before India won by 26 runs (D/L method).
According to former Australia captain Michael Clarke, the match will test Steve Smith‘s captaincy, who lost a Test in Bangladesh before allowing India to come back after his bowlers ran through the top order.But Smith replied backing his tactics. “I don’t think I am in a bad place in my captaincy. Obviously, results haven’t been as we liked for a little while and that’s something we are trying to rectify,” he said.
To back his claim, Smith will hope a repeat or better performance from Nathan Coulter-Nile who destroyed the top half of India’s batting with three wickets on Sunday. If the pitch doesn’t receive any sunshine before the match, the moisture it gathered under covers will assist Coulter-Nile, who knows the ground very well having played here for Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League.
“We need at least two hours of sunshine to get the ground ready. We are well-equipped and keeping our fingers crossed,” East Zone curator Ashish Bhowmick had told PTI.
The Eden will bring back for Rohit Sharma his fondest ODI memories. In India’s last victory at the venue, against Sri Lanka in 2014, Rohit scored a record-breaking 264. On that note, Australia will like to remind India of their unbeaten record on this ground. They won the 1987 World Cup beating England in the final and got the better of the hosts in their only other ODI at the Eden Gardens in 2003.
On the team front, overcast conditions and failure in the first match will also bring India’s batting stars into focus. Besides Dhoni and Pandya, none of the other Indian batsmen could kick on. While Virat Kohli and Manish Pandey had a duck to their name, Kedar Jadhav (40) got out after getting in.