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Tapan Mohanta Visakhapatnam, October 20 (PTI) Silencing his critics, stand-in-captain skipper Michael Clarke returned to form with his fifth century to help Australia post a challenging 289 for three against India in the second ODI against Australia at the floodlit Dr Y S Rajasekhara Reddy ADA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, here today. After Ashish Nehra evicted the opening duo of Shaun Marsh (0) and Tim Paine (9), but Clarke (111 not out from 138 balls with seven fours and one six) and Hussey (69) steadied the ship putting on 144 runs together.
Some big hitting by vice-captain Cameron White (89 from 49 balls with six fours and six overboundaries) -- with a couple of them straight ones through umpire Billy Bowden -- spurred the Aussie scoring as they scored 49 runs in the five overs of batting powerplay between 43rd and 47th overs. Both White and Clarke were in a rampaging mood, Nehra, who had an impressive first spell of 4-1-3-2 had his figures destroyed towards the end as he returned with 57 runs from his 10 overs.
The Aussie scored 114 in the last 10 overs, something that speaks highly of Clarke''s innings that had the shades of recovery and then the dominance. Put into bat, Australia were clearly under pressure as the opening duo of Marsh and Paine were dismissed early by Nehra in an impressive first spell.
Skipper Clarke and Hussey -- the experienced duo of the new-look Australia side -- did the repair work, building their innings brick by brick. Batting sensibly, they first ensured that there was no more damage, giving the later batsmern some kind of foundation.
With Indian third and fourth bowlers -- R Vinay Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin both playing in their second ODI -- a little short on experience, Dhoni had to resort to parttime spinning duo of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh. The duo bowled 13 overs in between them with Yuvraj chipping in with a full quota but without any damage to the Aussies.
Clarke, who scored just 35 runs from four innings in the two-Test series, essayed the role of an anchor to perfection, while southpaw Hussey looked to step up the tempo as the run-rate crept past 4.00-mark. The skipper took 77 balls to complete his half-century, while Hussey also joined in tandem getting to the 50-run mark in 61 balls as the duo began to look dangerous from Indian point of view.
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