India are batting first at Melbourne in the third one day global of the ongoing ODI series against Australia, after the hosts won the toss.
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Kohli worked hard during his 119-run partnership with Shikhar Dhawan and his 109-run stand with Ajinkya Rahane, both of whom made half-centuries. India were – Dhoni aside – not as adventurous with their strokeplay as they should have been.
Glenn Maxwell hits out during his match-winning innings. One glaring exception came in the 45th over, when Maxwell was on 73 and took off for a single after clipping the ball to Umesh Yadav at square leg. For each of the 83 balls he faced, he had to decide whether to rein his attacking instincts in, or play in the manner that comes naturally. But Maxwell was equal to the task. It was Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh at Brisbane. Joel Paris was squeezed out to accommodate Marsh.
Dhoni plundered 23 runs off nine balls but Australia bowled well to restrict them to a sub-300 total in the end.
In reply, Australia never looked in trouble as they knocked off the required runs with 1.1 overs still remaining. India however, have been consistent with the bat so far in the series, with Rohit Sharma (171 not out and 124) and Kohli (117) scoring centuries for the visitors and displaying brilliant form. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly (174), West Indian legend Brian Lara (183), former Caribbean batsman Desmond Haynes (187), South African great Jacques Kallis (188) and Tendulkar (189) also got the 7000-run mark early in their respective careers, but stand way behind Kohli.
India made two changes, including two debutants.
Hastings had a four wicket haul while Faulkner and Richardson picked one wicket each.
India batted first once again, this time by invitation rather than choice with Smith reckoning that the surface would get easier to bat on as the day wore on. However, Kohli picked up the slack. Kohli is now the fastest to score 24 ODI hundreds, bettering the Australian’s mark. Kohli took a majority of the strike initially as his new partner rotated well. “No point. I have smashed you enough in my life”, the stump microphone recorded Kohli as saying to Faulkner during the former’s innings. Rahane fell to one of the athletic fielding feats that appear to be commonplace nowadays.
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Smith ran in from long-on and caught it at the edge of the boundary.
