In the second ODI played against Australia in Visakhapatnam, India suffered a crushing defeat and the entire match was reduced to just 37 overs. While rain was predicted to hamper proceedings, Australia paceman Mitchell Starc made sure he put things to an end before anything like that happened. Starting from where he left off in the last encounter in Mumbai, Starc put the hosts on the back foot from the start.

Shubman Gill was Starc’s first victim as he was caught by Marnus Labuschagne in the first over after Australia won the toss and invited India to bat. Starc took two more wickets – Rohit Sharma and Suryakumar Yadav – in his third over as India were reduced to 32–3 in 4.5 overs.

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Steve Smith rubbed salt in India’s wounds before Starc packed off the previous encounter’s match-winner KL Rahul for 9 (12). The stand-in Australian captain snatched a one-handed beauty while fielding in the slips to get rid of Hardik Pandya as India lost half their team with just 49 runs on the board.

Wickets kept falling as Nathan Ellis also made some quick inroads, including the prized wicket of Virat Kohli, who scored 31 off 35 balls.

Starc then brought up his half-century by removing Mohammad Siraj as the Indian innings was bundled out for 117 runs in just 26 overs.

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Australia in reply made a mockery of the run-chase as explosive knocks from Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh saw the visitors wrap up the show in just 11 overs. Both batsmen remained unbeaten as Head scored 51 from 30 balls, while Marsh scored 66 from 36 balls to give Australia a 10-wicket victory.

With this defeat, India also created an unwanted record in the 50-over format. The Men in Blue suffered their biggest loss while batting first. Australia chased down the target with 234 balls to spare. The previous record was held by New Zealand, who defeated India with 212 balls to spare in a match played in Hamilton in 2019.

Meanwhile, the three-match series is now tied at 1-1 and the series decider will be played in Chennai on Wednesday.