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Published 15:02 IST, March 19th 2023

IND vs AUS 2nd ODI: Steve Smith stuns Hardik Pandya with brilliant flying catch | WATCH

IND vs AUS 2nd ODI: Steve Smith took an absolute blinder fielding at the first slip to dismiss Hardik Pandya. The catch was taken off Sean Abbott's delivery

Reported by: Vishal Tiwari
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IND vs AUS 2nd ODI: India and Australia are currently locking horns against each other in the second ODI of their three-match series in Visakhapatnam. Australia's stand-in captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bowl first at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. Batting first, India lost five early wickets in the first power-play with Mitchell Starc doing all the damage for the visitors. Starc dismantled India's top order in the first five overs before he came back to take the prized wicket of KL Rahul. 

Sean Abbott struck in the very next over and sent Hardik Pandya back to the pavilion for just 1 run off 3 balls. Steve Smith took an absolute blinder fielding at the first slip. Pandya had to walk after he poked a good length delivery from Abbott in the 10th over which Smith was able to catch while diving to his right. A video of the catch is doing rounds on social media. The video shows Smith taking an amazing catch to dismiss Pandya. 

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Earlier, Shubman Gill was dismissed for a duck in the very first over of India's innings. Starc claimed the wicket by bowling an outside off delivery, which Gill attempted to play but ended up giving a catch to Marnus Labuschagne at point. Starc came back to remove Rohit Sharma for 13 off 15 balls in the 5th over. He trapped Suryakumar Yadav for a golden duck off the very next delivery. KL Rahul was dismissed for 9 off 12 balls in the 9th over by Starc. 

India are currently 1-0 up in the series and a victory in Vizag will seal the series for them. As of now Australia do have a firm control on the match and it will really take a lot from India to pull things in their favour.

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India vs Australia: Playing XIs

India: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, KL Rahul (wk), Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami.

Australia: Travis Head, Mitchell Marsh, Steven Smith (c), Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Marcus Stoinis, Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa.

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Image: Twitter
 

14:53 IST, March 19th 2023