India outplayed Australia in the 5th and final One-day international played at Jamatha Ground, Nagpur just finished a few minutes ago. Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bat. The opening partnership of Aaron Finch and David Warner gave a great start to the team but Indian bowlers did a great job to restrict Australia to just 242. Rohit Sharma scored 125 and helped team India to chase down the target with ease.
Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss again and elected to bat first on a good batting pitch at Nagpur. David Warner and Aaron Finch provided a flying start with attacking strokeplay. At the end of first 10 overs, Australia scored 60 runs. Hardik Pandya got the breakthrough taking the wicket of Aaron Finch ending a 66 runs partnership for 1st wicket. The Indian spinners bowled with great control not allowing the Australian batsmen to score runs easily. David Warner completed his half-century off 56 balls.
Australia lost 3 quick wickets and was struggling at 118 for 4. Travis Head and Marcus Stoinis played with positive intent adding 87 runs for the fifth wicket. In the death overs, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Bumrah just conceded 37 runs taking 4 wickets. Australia was restricted to 242 for 9 in 50 overs.
Chasing a modest total of 243, Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Rahane started on the cautious note just scoring 43 runs in the first 10 overs. After the restriction both the batsmen played with positive intent. Rohit Sharma completed his half-century first in 52 balls and Rahane also completed his half-century off 64 balls. Rahane was dismissed for 61 ending a 124 partnership for the first wicket.
Rohit Sharma continued to play the Australian bowlers with ease. He completed his century in 94 balls. The hard-hitting right-handed batsmen scored 125 before being dismissed by Zampa. Virat Kohli was too dismissed in the same over for 39. Manish Pandey hit the winning stroke. India won the match by 7 wickets with 43 balls to reclaim the number 1 ranking in ODI cricket.
India 243 for 3 in 42.5 overs ( Rohit Sharma 125, Rahane 61, Zampa 2/59) beat Australia 242 for 9 in 50 overs ( David Warner 53, Stoinis 46, Axar Patel 3/38) by 7 wickets
Captain Virat Kohli said: It was a good performance by team India in this series. There are lots of positives from this ODI series. We have ticked lots of boxes. Whenever we have been put under pressure, somebody stood up. Both Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Bumrah were brilliant. Hardik Pandya, and both wrist spinners played a key role in India’s win.
Man of the match Rohit Sharma: Australia had a different game plan today and the ball was not coming on to bat. I took time to get off the mark and once got set tried to rotate the strike to keep ahead of run rate.
Man of the series Hardik Pandya: I am working hard on my fitness. It is not an easy job to perform with both bat and ball. In this series, I had batted in different situations and with seniors in the team, I am learning each day.
India wins the ODI series 4-1 and becomes the number 1 side in ODI cricket. The three-match T20 series starts on 7th October in Ranchi.