India has wrapped the ODI series against Australia with a win, coming from behind to win 2-1.
Recall that the host had lost the first game against the Aussies, losing by ten wickets in Mumbai. They were undeterred, and they picked up the decisive win against a strong Australian side.
The hosts will have to thank Rohit Sharma and skipper Virat Kohli for their pace in a tricky run chase with sublime knocks against the visitors who were defeated by seven wickets.
Rohit (119 off 128) lived up to expectation, knowing fully well that he was due for a big score in the series. He delivered when it mattered most in the all-important game for his 29th ODI hundred.
Coming back from a ten-wicket loss in Mumbai showed that India is a side that has a point to prove against the classy visitors and they did with emphatic victories in Rajkot and Bangalore.
Rohit now has 437 in four innings at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium under his belt. The talisman has now achieved another milestone by becoming the third player to reach 9000-run mark in ODIs. He got into the record book needing just four runs. He got it in the very first over after picking a couple off Pat Cummins on the first two deliveries.
After the talismanic opener was ousted, Kohli (89 off 91) took over, and he anchored the chase for India to a win in 47.3 overs while Shreyas Iyer was unbeaten on 44 with 35 balls.
The 137-run shared by Rohit and Kohli no doubt won the game for India, having overhauled the 287-run target with 15 balls to spare.
Although Steve Smith got his ninth ODI hundred with Australia scoring 286 for nine after Aaron Finch opted to bat, Indian bowlers were at their best as the leader, Mohammed Shami (4/63), limited their chances to under 300.
Interestingly, with the good job already done by his team, opener Shikhar Dhawan, who is having a shoulder injury was not needed for batting.
The beautiful day was started by Rahul alongside Rohit with a beautiful punch on the offside.But he couldn’t go beyond 27 balls over a successful LBW review off Ashton Agar by Australia.
Rohit ended up smashing six sixes and eight fours with his best hit coming off Pat Cummins.
Australia’s in-form openers – David Warner (3) and Aaron Finch (19) were ousted in the game early giving the host the needed breath of fresh air.
With the duo ousted, it was a comfortable win for India as other team members couldn’t live up to expectations.
Written by Oladipupo Mojeed
