Cricket
Posted: Sun Oct 01, 2017 8:51 pm
India Crush Australia to Win Series 4-1 & Regain No.1 Spot in ICC ODI Rankings
http://www.news18.com/cricketnext/news/ ... 33655.htmlNagpur: Rohit Sharma struck a majestic century while Axar Patel starred with the ball as India crushed Australia by seven wickets to take the five-match series 4-1 at the Vidarbha Cricket Stadium in Nagpur on Sunday.
With this victory, the 'Men in Blue' leapfrogged South Africa to regain the top spot in the latest ICC ODI rankings.
Chasing a modest target of 243, team India got off to a steady start with Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma at the crease. Rahane started going for runs right from the word go, but his partner Rohit took 15 balls to open his account in the match.
But once both batsmen were set, they took the attack to the visitors in sublime style. Rohit was the first to complete his half-century and at one point he was only dealing in boundaries. Rahane soon followed suit and he notched up his fourth successive fifty of the series.
The 124-run partnership was finally ended by Nathan Coulter-Nile as the pacer trapped Rahane LBW for 61. Virat Kohli joined Rohit in the middle and the duo kept the scoreboard ticking comfortably.
Rohit Sharma then upped the ante and went onto to score his 14th ODI ton in stunning style. During the course of this innings, Rohit became the fastest Indian to score 2000 runs at home and he also became only the ninth Indian to cross the 6,000-run barrier in the 50-over format of the game.
Rohit continued to be Australia's nemesis as this was 6th ODI ton against them (also includes one double century). Rohit and Kohli put on 99 runs for the second wicket to propel India closer to the target
Adam Zampa finally removed Rohit (124) and Kohli (39) in one over but it was bit too late by then as Kedar Jadhav and Manish Pandey saw India home with 43 balls to spare.
Earlier, Axar Patel was the stand-out Indian bowler as the hosts restricted Australia to 242/9. The visitors once again failed to build on a promising start provided by David Warner (53) and Aaron Finch (32) to end up with a below par total.
Patel (3/38) bowled a tidy spell and managed to register his second best bowling figures in ODIs. Jasprit Bumrah (2/51) bounced back brilliantly in the death overs to finish with much improved figures.
After starting with a maiden, Bumrah was guilty of bowling either too full or too short as the dangerous duo of Warner and Finch took him to the cleaners. Bumrah ended up leaking 34 runs in his opening spell of four overs and was hit for as many seven boundaries.
Finch particularly punished the usually accurate pacer, hitting him for five fours, including three in a row in the eighth over. He pulled Bumrah towards mid-wicket and square leg when he was short and was equally quick to flick him when bowled into the pads.
The Australian's entertaining effort also included a sublime straight drive past the mid-on fielder. Such was Finch's onslaught that Australia reached 60 for no loss in 10 overs after they had scored just 21 in the first five.
The two big-hitters were once again successful in providing their team a good start after Steve Smith won the toss and opted to bat for the third game in a row. Finch and Warner's 66-run opening stand came after their monumental 231-run effort in Bengaluru.
Kohli had to do something to change the momentum of the game and he brought in Hardik Pandya as first change. The lanky all-rounder struck in his second over with Finch mistiming a full ball to Bumrah at mid-off. The spin trio of Patel, Kuldeep Yadav (0/48) and Kedar Jadhav (1/48) them came into play and were able to stem the flow of runs.
Part-timer Jadhav was impressive and besides keeping things tight, took the prized wicket of Smith, who missed a sweep shot to be plumb in front, leaving Australia at 100 for two in the 20th over.
Two quick wickets — Warner and Peter Handscomb — followed the skipper's dismissal, triggering a middle-order collapse for Australia and undoing the good work of the openers. Handscomb's failed sweep attempt put more pressure on Australia, who were now 118 for four in the 25th over.
Travis Head (42) and Marcus Stoinis (46) steadied the ship with an 87-run stand off 112 balls but got out just when they looked set to push the scoring rate. Australia were unable to break free at the death, scoring just 32 in the last six overs.