And Dhawan and Kohli batted majestically.
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Set a stiff target of 331 on a flat Sydney wicket, a strong foundation was laid by the Indian openers with an opening stand of 123.
Shikhar Dhawan’s explosive 56-ball 78 came to an end courtesy a brilliant diving catch by Shaun Marsh at deep point.
“Yeah they were (cruising towards victory)”.
India are off to another dominating start. The duo pressed on, bringing up the 100-run partnership for the first wicket in the 16th over to put pressure on the opposition. But the Mumbai right-hander virtually gifted away his wicket, while attempting to play a Richardson delivery which was going down the legside.
The Indian top-order has done well enough, with Rohit Sharma and Kohli himself scoring two hundreds each.
Mitchell Marsh slammed his maiden century to take Australia to 330-7. A hustle-and-bustle last four overs reaped 47 even as regular wickets fell and the final over cost 18 before Maxwell was out to the final ball, hobbling from the middle and later being subbed off the field after he was struck on the right knee by the ball. Nonetheless, it is a good total on the board. But by then, the Australians had already set themselves up for a formidable total.
– Cricket Gurus (@cricket_gurus) January 23, 2016Manish Pandey has a habit to score big runs in the final game.
Previously, India managed to score 295 by batting first. What a glorious summer he has had.
Dhoni scored a duck in the fourth ODI against Australia and the side slipped to a 25- run defeat from a very strong position. “They were, probably, just making sure they got to a milestone”.
What followed next was an excellent batting display from Warner and an out-of-form Mitchell Marsh. The wicket was Ishant’s fourth. He picked up two wickets and ended with figures of 2 for 40. However poor bowling has cost them dearly in this series.
At the start of Australia’s innings, there was an ominous sign, a straight drive from Finch changing direction after a deflection via Ishant Sharma’s hand to strike umpire Richard Kettleborough flush on the shin in the sixth over.
The dominant hosts are now eyeing India ODI series whitewash. Replays show that it might be missing the stumps though.
India have a record breaker of their own, too, of course.
“We’ll wait and see how he pulls up and see how the team goes from there”.
Australia replaced the injured Glenn Maxwell with Shaun Marsh and brought in Scott Boland for fellow seamer Kane Richardson.
Even so, the bowling and fielding haven’t lived up to expectations, and are the two primary factors why India hasn’t been able to turn the tables on the hosts so far on this tour.
Australia have now won 19 games on the trot. So much so that Dhoni has resigned to the theory that his batsmen will have to compensate for the weaknesses on the other front. So it is a bit like that in Australia, for both batsmen and bowlers.
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The innovative shots are no longer saved for the Twenty20 arena but rather come out in the last few overs, leaving bowlers defenceless.
