3 Times India came back from behind to win an ODI series at home in the recent past

#3. Against Australia in October 2013

Kohli scored a 60 ball hundred to take India home

This was a seven-match ODI series which was later reduced to 5 matches due to the abandonment of the games at Ranchi and Cuttack due to inclement weather.

The Australians were leading 2-1 in the series with 2 matches to go. One win out of two was enough for Australia to win the series. On the other hand, India had to win both the matches to win the series.

The fourth match was played at Nagpur. Going in tune with the trend in the series, India won the toss and elected to bowl first. Australia piled up 350 on the back of centuries from Shane Watson (102) and George Bailey (156).

When Australia reached 350, they thought the series was in their pocket. But the Indian top order had other ideas. It all started with the openers Rohit and Dhawan blasting 178 runs for the first wicket in 30 overs. When Rohit got out for 79 runs in the 30th over, India still needed 172 runs in 20 overs, which was a tall order.

Kohli walked in and made his intentions quite clear by hitting part-time spinners Maxwell and Finch for a boundary each. The regular spinner Doherty was hit for 2 fours and a six in the next over. The fast bowlers Faulkner and Mckay were not spared either as Kohli reached 40 off 26 balls.

At the other end, Dhawan reached his century off 100 balls before he got out in the same over to Faulkner. India needed 117 runs in 14 overs when Raina joined Kohli. Kohli reached his 50 off 31 balls.

India needed 84 runs off the last 10 overs. In the 41st over bowled by Johnson, Kohli hit 3 consecutive fours and raced into the 70s. In his next over, Johnson hit back by removing both Raina and Yuvraj. India needed 60 off 7 overs when Dhoni joined Kohli in the middle.

Kohli raced away to his century off 60 balls and India reached the target in the last over. With this win, India after conceding a lead had once again kept a home series alive. With the series tied two all, the decider was to be played at Bangalore.

At Bangalore, India off to a good start with the openers putting on 112 runs. Kohli came and went due to a misunderstanding in running between the wickets with Rohit.

Rohit stayed at one end and scored a fabulous double century. It was Rohit’s first double hundred and the third one from an Indian batsman after Sachin and Sehwag. In fact, these 3 were the first 3 batsmen to reach a double hundred in ODIs.

Rohit’s second hundred runs came off just 40 balls. Dhoni (62) and Rohit Sharma added 167 runs in 16 overs to pile up 383. That target proved to be too much for Australia and they fell short by 57 runs in spite of a century from James Faulkner.

In the end, India came back from behind and won another home series against the mighty Australians by a margin of 3-2.

To sum up, for the West Indies in the current one-day series, it is so far so good. They are at the brink of upsetting India at home. But the track record shows that the Indians are quite capable of inflicting a huge backlash against oppositions at home whenever they are pushed to the corner. This series against the West Indies will be no different.