IND vs AUS, 2nd ODI: Australia score their highest ODI total at Sydney Cricket Ground

Australia once again won the toss at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday and came out all guns blazing at the Indian bowlers.

The Australian innings on Sunday was fairly similar to the one on Friday, but it was only more brutal on the Indian bowlers.

Openers David Warner and Aaron Finch once again gave their team a brisk start and piled on another century-run stand. It was their second consecutive one and the 5th against India.

The two stitched together a partnership of 142 runs, before Mohammed Shami got skipper Finch to get a leading edge off a yorker and get him caught at extra cover.

David Warner perished a few overs later, mis-judging a throw from Shreyas Iyer from the long on boundary and getting run-out for an 83.

Steve Smith followed his Friday’s 62-ball 100 with another identical ton and was eventually dismissed for 104 against India on Sunday. This was Smith’s 11th ton in ODI cricket.

Marnus Labuschagne came in at No. 4 and hung around with Steve Smith to build a 136-run partnership. He eventually was dismissed for a 61-ball 70, trying to accelerate in the penultimate over of the match.

Glenn Maxwell came in at the No. 5 position and was unbeaten on 63 off 29 with 4 fours and 4 sixes. It



was his quick-fire fifty that gave Australia the impetus in the end to eventually end their innings at 389/4.

It was Australia’s highest-ever total at the Sydney Cricket Ground. This was confirmed by the official handle of the stadium that posted on Twitter saying, ‘The 4-389 posted is Australia's highest-ever ODI total at the SCG... That's across 134 matches at the ground, dating back to 1979!’

It was only the second time in ODI history that the top 5 batsmen in an innings had all got a score of fifty-plus.

The only other time this had previously happened was also by Australia in a clash against India in Jaipur in 2013.

It was the 2nd match of a 7-match ODI series that India went on to win 3-2.

Australia had won the toss and decided to bat and they really batted magnificently to post a score of 359/5. Their top order consisted of Aaron Finch 50 (53), Phillip Hughes 83 (103), Shane Watson 59 (53), George Bailey 92* (50) and Glenn Maxwell 53 (32).

But India went on to win that match by 9 wickets due to some top batting effort from their top 3 batsmen.

Rohit Sharma hit an unbeaten 141off 123 as Shikhar Dhawan hit 95 off 86 balls. Virat Kohli came in at No. 3 position and hit an unbeaten 100 off 52 balls.