India, Oct. 23 -- AFTER A WET AND FORGETTABLE opening ODI in Perth that lasted less than 50 overs and saw Australia shrug off India's challenge rather effortlessly, the gloriously sunny skies of Adelaide offered the hosts a chance to now clinch the three-game series. For the middling Indian side hoping to turn things around urgently, much of the pre-match conversation once more revolved around the two veteran superstars who predictably struggled in their return to the format after some seven months away - Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.

Despite a seven-wicket loss in the first outing, the all-rounder-obsessed India stuck to the same XI, leaving the specialist unorthodox spinner Kuldeep Yadav once again on the bench, while Australia saw the...