5th over: India 19-0 (Rahane 11, Sharma 7)
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Cummins strikes Rahane on the pad early in the over – it brings a sizeable shout from the cordon, but it’s turned down. Smith thinks about reviewing but indicates that it was missing leg. Replays confirm that. Next ball, Cummins flies in then all of a sudden the ball flies out the back of his hand, lobbing itself to mid on. It slipped from the back of his hand, Cummins tumbled, leaving everyone flummoxed, then laughing. The Penrith clubman responds by delivering a ripsnorting bouncer that whistles past Rahane nose; it seamed from the wicket and was zeroing in on the batsman before he swayed out of the way. Rahane predictably prods one and takes off next ball, but Sharma sends him back. Impressive stuff again from Cummins.
Updated
at 9.28am BST
4th over: India 18-0 (Rahane 11, Sharma 6)
Another cover-drive for four, this time from Rahane, from Coulter-Nile’s first ball. He follows with a wide, and then Rahane leans on a checked-square drive, just steering it between backward and cover point. Nine from (effectively) two balls. Smith has two slips – understandable this early on, because wickets are very helpful. I think he’ll remove one soon though. Rahane slashes late in the over but Coulter-Nile’s bounce is too much. It’s a play-and-miss and Coulter-Nile throws his head back, but really Rahane just missed out on a boundary.
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(@FoxSportsLab)Australia won its only ODI against India at Eden Gardens, Kolkata by 37 runs in 2003 #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/AuB8U0m4tr
3rd over: India 9-0 (Rahane 3, Sharma 6)
A quiet start to the over before Rohit Sharma absolutely laces a cover drive for four. It hurtled at warp speed to the boundary; an absolutely copybook execution of the shot too. The sort of shot that makes you think ‘hmm, this is a good wicket.’ Calling 300+ already. Courageous, isn’t it. No other runs from the over
Meanwhile, Brett Lee argues on TV that it was unfair to label Pat Cummins as “injury prone”… I’d respectfully disagree.
(@CricketAus)The Australian players are wearing black armbands today to honour former Test spinner Bob Holland #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/OI2ERN3cfj
Updated
at 9.15am BST
A look at the wicket
There was some suggestion that the rain might leave a green tinge on the wicket. Admittedly, I’m red-green colour blind so I’d struggle to see it anyway, but this looks especially hard and decidedly not-green.
(@BCCI)The covers are off. First look at the pitch for the 2nd ODI at Eden Gardens. Win the toss and? #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/a7AX5cWPd6
India has won the toss and will bat
Forget Brett Lee’s comments, Kohli wants to set a total.
“We’re going to bat. Looks a nice and hard wicket, doesn’t have a lot of moisture in it. Tends to do a lot more in the night than the day and we have two wrist-spinners too. Was a lot of talk in last few months about the top order but middle and lower order have done the job for us in the last few games. Last game gave us confidence as a side and lifted us.”
(@CricketAus)India have won the toss and they will bat first #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/Y1pX33Ddoe
Updated
at 8.48am BST
Welcome all!
Good morning, afternoon and evening to you all, and welcome to our OBO coverage of this, the second ODI between India and Australia being played at Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
The home side have a one-nil lead, courtesy of a comfortable-enough win in Chennai at the weekend, but whether that provides the riveting context you crave, or not, is really up to you. In an age of isolated contest after isolated contest, it may surprise you to learn that India have one seven ODIs on the bounce, and that the World Champions, Australia, have won just one from their last ten. All roads point towards advantage India.
But does that matter anyway? Ed Cowan, speaking on Fox Sports this week, posed that question in a roundabout way. He pondered whether this Australian side resembled a ‘development squad’ rather than a Best XI, pointing to the inclusion of Hilton Cartwright as an opener. Cartwright averages 16 in domestic fifty-over cricket. Cowan may have a point.
I’m told there’s been a fair bit of rain around Kolkata, so much so that a delayed start was predicted as late as this morning. However it seems to have abated, and moreover had little impact on the wicket.
Says Brett Lee: “It looks like a very good pitch. Last season, the pitch had a two-pace quality to it. This one may not have that. Last few games over here have produced more than 300 runs. With the rains around, teams might want to field. Absolute beautiful pitch here at Eden Gardens.”
Great pitch. May want to field. That confuses me. Then again, many things do.
Next I’ll bring you reports from the toss, and the respective playing XIs of both teams.
As ever, it would be great to hear from you. I’m at @sjjperry on Twitter or [email protected]
Updated
at 3.25am BST