MITCH MASALA

Left-arm pacer runs through Indian top-order yet again to hand Australia a 10-wicket victory

- ASHOK VENUGOPAL

KL RAHUL has just walked out to the middle after the dismissal of Suryakumar Yadav - the Indian No. 4 who was trapped on the pads by an inswinger from Mitchell Starc for a first-ball duck. The Australian left-armer is on a hat trick. You might think this is from the first ODI in Mumbai, but it wasn't.

It all felt like deja vu as Starc had run through the Indian top-order, reducing them to 32/3 in 4.5 overs in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. The six-foot-five inch-tall pacer was breathing fire from the moment he took the new ball after the tourists opted to bowl. His accuracy was on the mark once again at the YS Rajasekhara Reddy stadium, with Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar back in the pavilion. Rahul's first delivery was another close inswinger that the batter managed to survive. However, he did not last long. A couple of overs later, Starc pitched one on off-stump which shaped into the middle stump and hit the pads of Rahul, who tried to flick it through the leg side. Before even Rahul knew, the umpire's finger went up and India were four down.