India lose to Australia again despite another Rohit ton

Rohit Sharma struck his second successive hundred of the series but once again India was outclassed by Australia in the second One-Day International, in Brisbane, on Friday.

- Scorecard

Electing to bat first, Rohit slammed a magnificent 124 to guide India to 308 for eight, but Australia's batting proved too strong yet again as they cruised to a seven-wicket victory, with six balls to spare, and took a commanding 2-0 lead in the five-match series.

- PHOTOS: Australia vs India, 2nd ODI

Openers Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh, who hit 71 each, laid the foundation in Australia's dominating batting performance, putting on 145 runs for the opening wicket.

George Bailey, who hit a century in the first ODI, continued with his good form, finishing unbeaten on 76 off 58 balls, while Glenn Maxwell hit 26 not out off 25 balls.

India's bowlers were lacklustre again and hardly threatened the Aussie batsmen.

Ishant Sharma (1-60), playing an ODI after 354 days, was wayward and undid all the good work done by new-ball partner Barinder Sran (0-51). He was also guilty of dropping Marsh early in his innings.

Australia, in the process, registered the highest-ever run-chase in Brisbane, bettering their previous record of 301 for 9 against England in January 2014.

Earlier, Rohit,who was later named man of the match, joined hands with Test skipper Virat Kohli (59) to rebuild India's innings, and then partnered the selfless Ajinkya Rahane (89) to lay the foundation for a huge total before Australia pegged the tourists back in the final 10 overs.

For the second successive match, Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and opted to bat and opener Shikhar Dhawan again fell cheaply to pace, with Joel Paris claiming his first ODI wicket in his second match.

Rohit and Kohli were once more left to rebuild the innings, which they did with some elegant shot-making as India battled it out to level the five-match series after falling behind in Perth.

Rohit dug out a Kane Richardson yorker to bring up his fifty off 61 balls, while Kohli needed one delivery less for his 36th half-century in this format.

The duo, who had forged a 207-run stand in India's five-wicket defeat at the WACA, added 125 before Kohli paid the price for attempting to steal a non-existent second run.

Rohit was lucky to reach his 10th ODI century, after snickometer confirmed he, when on 89, had edged Paris, but Australia's caught-behind appeal was turned down by the umpire.

Rahane proved a perfect foil for Rohit, shunning risks and still finding the ropes to bring up a run-a-ball fifty in their 121-run stand when boundaries flowed from both ends.

Rohit's 127-ball knock ended in bizarre circumstances as Rahane's straight drive brushed bowler James Faulkner's fingers before hitting the stumps with the non-striker out of his crease.

The boundaries soon dried up and the visitors lost five wickets in the final five overs while adding 38 runs to their score.

Rahane perished in the penultimate over after a fluent 80-ball knock as India settled for what appeared to be a par score at the Gabba.