It was rather anti-climactic for team India to lose the series by 3-2 given that they were 2-0 up after the first two matches. This is Australia's first ODI series win since January 2017 and it really is an unprecedented achievement for them.
Australia had won the two-match T20I series and were in momentum for the ODI series. However, India won the first two encounters taking a 2-0 lead in the series. At Hyderabad, a target of 237 was chased down with 6 wickets and 10 balls remaining, thanks to unbeaten 141 run stand between MS Dhoni and Kedar Jadhav. In the second match, the bowlers did a fantastic job in defending 250, a score which could not have been possible without Virat Kohli's resolute 116.
The third ODI was held at Ranchi, Dhoni's home-town, but it was Usman Khawaja who stole the show with his magnificent hundred. Kohli too made a brilliant hundred but he couldn't get India past the finish line. In the fourth ODI, Australia successfully chased down a record target of 359 to level the series 2-2.
In the decider, it was once again Khawaja who scripted the victory for the visitors. His elegant 100 helped the Aussies to post a decent total of 272. Peter Handscomb too scored a half-century. Chasing 273 to win, India lost Shikhar Dhawan early and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. In the end, they were bowled out for 237. Australia won the match by 35 runs and thus the sealed the series.
Here in this article, we will look at some interesting stats from the series.
2788 - Total number of runs scored in the series.
259 - Number of fours hit in the series, with Usman Khawaja hitting the most (39).
47 - Number of sixes hit in the series; Ashton Turner topped the list with 8 sixes.
6 - Number of centuries scored in the series (Virat Kohli - 2, Usman Khawaja - 2, Peter Handscomb - 1, Shikhar Dhawan - 1).
10 - Number of half-centuries scored in the series (Usman Khawaja - 2, Rohit Sharma - 2, one each by MS Dhoni, Peter Handscomb, Kedar Jadhav, Ashton Turner, Aaron Finch, and Marcus Stoinis).
143 - Number of runs scored by Shikhar Dhawan in the 4th ODI, the highest individual score in the series.
383 - Number of runs scored by Usman Khawaja in the series, the most by any player.
76.60 - Batting average of Usman Khawaja in the series, the highest for any player.
359/6 - Australia's score in the 4th ODI, the highest team total in the series.
80 - Number of wickets that fell in the series.
14 - Number of wickets taken by Pat Cummins in the series, the highest for any player
5/70 - Bowling figures of Pat Cummins in the 4th ODI, the best by any bowler in the series.
4.43 - Bowling economy of Nathan Lyon in the series, the least by any bowler in the series (minimum 50 balls bowled).
20.2 - Bowling strike rate of Pat Cummins in the series, the best by any bowler in the series (minimum 50 balls bowled).
500 - India's win in the second ODI was their 500th win in the ODIs
359 - Target chased down by Australia in the 4th ODI. This is the highest target chased down in India against India, also the highest successful chase by Australia.
Personal Milestones:
During his knock of 56 in the fifth ODI, Rohit Sharma completed 8000 ODI runs. He is the 9th Indian player to reach the milestone.
Virat Kohli won his 32nd 'Player of the Match' award in the second ODI. He surpassed Sourav Ganguly (31) and now only Sachin Tendulkar (62) has more awards than him among Indian cricketers.
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