It turned out to be a ‘Super Sunday’ for India as they clinched another series by beating a top side like Australia at the Holkar Stadium in Indore. This win not only helped India seal the series, but also helped them become the no. 1 team in ICC ODI rankings.
Virat Kohli led India are enjoying a wonderful winning run as they have now won 12 matches on the trot in different formats. At the Holkar Stadium, India has now played five One Day Internationals and not lost even a single match, which describes how ‘Lucky’this ground is for the hosts.
It was a great show from the Indian batsmen as Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane struck useful half centuries against a quality Australian bowling attack. Sharma and Rahane laid the perfect platform during chase and put up a quickfire 139 run stand for the 1st wicket. Later on, Hardik Pandya once again proved why he is the one all-rounder that India has been looking for a long long time. His consistent good performances both with the bat and bowl are a really good sign, especially in India’s quest to build a formidable side for 2019 cricket World Cup.
Earlier, Australia were restricted to 293 runs after they had a brilliant start led by Aaron Finch, who struck a magnificient century on his return after missing the first two ODIs due to injury. When everyone was thinking of a 320-330 run target for India, Kuldeep Yadav provided vital breakthrough and helped in putting brakes on the Australian run flow. Kuldeep removed both set batsman, Aaron Finch and Steve Smith, while Chahal got rid off the dangerous Maxwell. Some brilliant death bowling by the pace bowlers made sure Australia did not run away with the game as they conceded only 59 in the last ten and managed to pick 4 wickets.