Melbourne, Jan 18: Rohit Sharma anchored the Indian innings with a scintillating 138 before Mitchell Starc's career-best six-wicket haul helped Australia restrict the visitors to 267 for 8 in the second one-dayer of the cricket tri-series at MCG, here today.
Opening the innings, Rohit blasted nine boundaries and four sixes in 139 balls to produce his sixth ODI hundred and third against Australia after India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat.
The Mumbaikar put on 126 runs for the 4th wicket with Suresh Raina (51 runs, 63 balls, 6 fours) even as Starc produced a fine bowling display to pick up 6-43 in his ten overs.
Electing to bat, India had a horrendous start as they were reduced to 59 for three in 12.5 overs. Opener Shikhar Dhawan (2) was removed in the first over of the innings itself, caught at second slip off Starc.
Rahane (12) had been listed to bat at number four in the team-sheets but then came out at the fall of the first wicket. He put on 30 runs for the 2nd wicket with Rohit, the two scoring along at 4.64 runs per over.
Just as they were beginning to look comfortable at the crease, Sandhu (1-58) got Rahane to attempt a high cut and instead was caught behind by keeper Brad Haddin. That brought Virat Kohli (9) to the crease but the star batsman was off-colour on the day.
He miscued a pull-shot off James Faulkner (1/63) and was caught easily by skipper George Bailey at mid-on, shortly after India had crossed the 50-mark in the 11th over.
Raina then joined Rohit at the crease and two played responsibly to dig their side out of the rot. The left-hander was dismissed in the 35th over as the opener along with his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni brought up the 200-mark in the 40th over.
But Starc returned to the attack to remove three Indian captain -- Dhoni (19), Axar Patel (0) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (0) to restrict India's innings. Debutant Gurinder Sandhu (1/58) and James Faulkner (1/63) picked up one wicket each.
The fourth wicket stand between Rohit and Raina formed the bedrock of the Indian innings as the duo stabilised the visitors after being pushed on the back foot early.
Rohit rotated strike as much as he could, early on in their partnership, while the left-hander took his time to find comfort at the crease.
By the time their 50-run partnership came up in the 23rd over, runs had started to flow with ease. There was a small confrontation between David Warner and Rohit with an overthrow the topic of discussion. But the batsman took it in his stride to reach his fifty off 68 balls.
Thanks to the big ground, the two batsmen were made to run hard and they did so well enough, chancing their luck against the Australian fielders on many occasions. They brought up their 100-partnership in the 31st over and this prompted them to take the batting power-play in the 34th over itself.
In the next over, Raina reached his 33rd ODI half-century off 61 balls but was also dismissed, hitting Starc straight to Glenn Maxwell at mid-on.
The fall of a wicket early in the powerplay meant only 19 runs came off it, even as Dhoni (19) and Rohit looked to up the scoring rate.
Rohit got to his hundred off 109 balls in the 37th over, his eventual score the highest in an ODI at this ground by an Indian batsman against Australia. The previous best was 100 runs by Sourav Ganguly way back in January 2000.
Dhoni and Rohit brought up the 200-mark in the 40th over, but then Starc returned to the attack to remove the Indian captain and Patel with a double-blow in the 44th over.
The latter was unlucky to be given out LBW by umpire John Ward as the ball was clearly missing leg-stump.
R Ashwin (14*) who had been surprisingly held back then arrived in the middle to help add 25 runs for the 7th wicket as the 250-mark came up in the 47th over.
Ashwin was dropped by Pat Cummins (0-52) in the next over but Starc still managed to get his 5th wicket as Rohit was out caught at mid-wicket. He then bowled Kumar who missed a simple full-toss first ball.
The hat-trick was avoided by Mohammad Shami (2*) as the last ten overs yielded just 61 runs for the loss of four wickets.
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