Star batter Steve Smith is leading the Australian side for the three-match ODI series against India in the absence of their skipper Pat Cummins. Australia’s stand-in skipper Steve Smith took a screamer to dismiss Hardik Pandya in the second India vs Australia ODI in Visakhapatnam after which cricket fans termed him ‘Superman without cape’.
Steve Smith takes a blinder to dismiss Hardik Pandya
Team India got a terrible start in the second ODI against Australia as their opener Shubman Gill departed without troubling the scorers. Shubman Gill played a false shot against Mitchell Starc allowing the left-arm pacer the kind of start he was looking for.
After dismissing Gill, Mitchell Starc became even more fierce as he got rid of Rohit Sharma, Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul in quick succession. Virat Kohli lost three partners in no time after which Hardik Pandya came in to join him as the Indian team badly needed a good partnership.
However, the Australian skipper had different plans. He brought Sean Abbott into attack against Hardik Pandya. Smith made sure to keep an attacking field placement and kept himself at the first slip position.
Sean Abbott bowled a seam-up delivery short of good length in the corridor of uncertainty. Hardik Pandya played the delivery with hard hands and it flew off his outside edge towards the first slip. Steve Smith made a full stretch dive and almost used every inch of his body to complete the catch.
The video of Steve Smith’s one-handed catch has gone viral on social media. Cricket fans hailed Smith as ‘Superman without cape’ for his breathtaking catch. Courtesy of this catch, Team India lost half their side within the first 10 overs.
Talking about Team India’s innings, Virat Kohli was the highest run getter as he scored 31 runs before getting dismissed by Australian pacer Nathan Illis. All- rounder Axar Patel remained unbeaten at 29 as he ran out of partners as the Men in Blue were bowled out for a mere 117 runs in 26 overs.
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Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc grabbed a fifer as he completely destroyed the Indian top order. Indian batters yet again showed their weakness against the inswinging delivery bowled by left-arm pacers. Starc got enough support from Sean Abbott who took 3 wickets. Nathan Ellis too looked impressive in the second ODI against India as he took two wickets including the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli.