In a stark contrast to the performance of the Indian batsmen in Ahmedabad, who amassed a large score against the West Indies, the Indian bowlers faced a difficult time in Kanpur. The India A team, led by Shreyas Iyer, suffered a resounding defeat to Australia A in the second match of the ODI series. After scoring a significant total in the previous match, India A could not even reach 250 runs in this instance, and Australia A secured a victory by 9 wickets in the rain-affected encounter.
After a high-scoring display of 413 runs in the same ground 48 hours earlier on October 1st, India A saw their batting collapse. Abhishek Verma, replacing young opener Priyansh Arya, who starred in the previous match, was dismissed on the first ball. Captain Shreyas Iyer, who had scored a century in the previous game, also failed to perform, with India A losing 3 wickets for just 17 runs within the first six overs.
Tilak Varma stepped up and played a brilliant innings of 94 runs, helping India A reach a competitive score of 246 in 45.5 overs. He was supported by Riyan Parag, who scored another half-century, but again failed to convert it into a substantial score. Jack Edwards, the Australian captain, took the most wickets with 4.
Australia started aggressively, scoring over 40 runs in the first six overs before rain interrupted the match. After a lengthy delay, Australia A was given a revised target under the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern method. They needed to score 160 runs in 25 overs to win. Following the dismissal of Jake Fraser-McGurk, Machenzie Harvey, along with Cooper Connolly, continued the explosive batting display. Australia A achieved the target in just 16.4 overs, or 100 balls, stunning the Indian team. Harvey remained unbeaten with 70 runs off 49 balls, while Connolly scored 50 runs off 31 balls. McGurk also contributed with 36 runs off 20 balls. The Australian team secured the victory by 9 wickets, hitting 22 fours and 6 sixes, thereby leveling the series at 1-1.
