A composed 74 from Matt Short and a maiden half-century by Cooper Connolly guided Australia to a two-wicket victory over India at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday, securing the three-match ODI series 2–0 with one game still to play.
India had earlier posted 264 for 9 in front of a sold-out crowd, led by captain Rohit Sharma’s fluent 73. In reply, the hosts reached their target with 22 balls to spare, thanks to calm batting from Connolly (61*), who shared a decisive partnership with Mitch Owen (36).
Australia had already won the rain-affected opening match in Perth by seven wickets, leaving Saturday’s clash in Sydney a dead rubber.
“It’s awesome and we’re absolutely rapt to have won the series,” said Australia captain Mitch Marsh, who had opted to field first after winning the toss. “(Josh) Hazlewood was unbelievable — the whole bowling unit kept attacking, and it was awesome batting as well. We’ll certainly enjoy this one.”
The Australian chase got off to a shaky start, with Marsh falling for 11 to Arshdeep Singh after an adventurous swing, and Travis Head departing soon after for 28, caught by Virat Kohli off Harshit Rana.
Short then combined with Matt Renshaw to steady the innings, adding 55 runs through sharp running between the wickets. Renshaw’s promising 30 ended when Axar Patel’s spin beat him, while Alex Carey was dismissed for nine attempting a sweep off Washington Sundar.
Short continued confidently to his third ODI fifty but was caught on the boundary for 74 off Rana as he tried to accelerate. Power-hitting from Owen, who struck two fours and three sixes, eased the pressure before Connolly’s composed finish saw Australia home, despite a few late nerves.
“I think we had just enough runs on the board,” said India captain Shubman Gill after the defeat. “It’s never easy defending those totals when you drop a couple of catches. The wicket had something early on, but it got better to bat as the ball aged.”
Earlier, Australia’s bowlers made early inroads. Josh Hazlewood began with 13 consecutive dot balls, while Xavier Bartlett, playing in place of Nathan Ellis, claimed the key early breakthroughs.
Bartlett first lured Gill into chipping an easy catch to Marsh at mid-off, before trapping Kohli lbw for a four-ball duck — his second in as many matches, marking the first time in his ODI career he has been dismissed for consecutive ducks.
Rohit Sharma weathered the pressure to reach his 59th ODI half-century, adding 118 runs with Shreyas Iyer (61). But Mitchell Starc broke the partnership, having Rohit caught in the deep by Hazlewood from a mis-timed pull shot.
Zampa then struck repeatedly, dismissing Iyer, KL Rahul (11), Axar Patel (44) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (8), ensuring India were restricted to a manageable total that Australia comfortably chased down.
