Amidst plenty of anticipation, India and Australia faced each other in the series-deciding fifth ODI at Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi on Wednesday (March 13).
Opting to bat first, Australia rode on a fine century by opening batsman Usman Khawaja to post 272/9 in 50 overs. Khawaja and skipper Aaron Finch (27) stitched a 76-run opening partnership to give Australia a bright start before the former established a 99-run stand with Peter Handscomb (52) to steer visitors towards a big total.
After the middle-order collapse, Jhye Richardson (29) and Pat Cummins (15) took Australia past the 250-run mark. Bhuvneshwar Kumar picked three wickets for India while Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja picked two wickets apiece.
In reply, India lost the centurion of the last match Shikhar Dhawan (12) early. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli added 53 runs for the second wicket to bring the innings back on track. But as soon as Marcus Stoinis dismissed the Indian captain for 20, the hosts’ middle-order fell like a pack of cards.
Batting at the crucial No.4 position, Rishabh Pant got out to Nathan Lyon for 16 while Vijay Shankar fell to Adam Zampa for the identical score. Rohit Sharma scored 56 but failed to carry on and threw away his wicket by playing a horrible shot off Zampa. In the same over, Ravindra Jadeja perished for duck as well.
Although Kedar Jadhav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept India’s hopes alive with a 91-run partnership, it was always going to be tough for the home team with the required run-rate constantly creeping up. While Cummins got rid of Bhuvneshwar for 46, Richardson removed Jadhav for 44 as India lost both of them in successive deliveries.
After that it was only the formalities left which Richardson and Stoinis completed by dismissing Shami (3) and Kuldeep (8). India were eventually bundled out for 237 in 50 overs as Australia clinched the five-match ODI series 3-2.
Twitter experts were mighty impressed with the way Finch and company lifted their performance in the deciding game to clinch the series.
Here are some of the reactions:
