India and Australia are one of the greatest rivalries in cricket. They have produced some of the mouth-watering clashes across all the three formats of the game. Individual duels like Sachin Tendulkar vs Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne vs Sourav Ganguly, and most recently Virat Kohli vs Mitchell Starc, all have made the game better.
So far, the Men in Blues have clashed 145 one-dayers with the Aussies winning 52 of those. Australia have the upper hand with 78 victories to their name with 15 matches abandoned or called off due to various reasons.
Every time these two teams have gone up against each other, they have produced some of the intense cricket matches keeping the fans tightly-seated. Today we will talk about some of the crushing ODI games since the birth of the game.
Here are the top 5 ODI matches between Australia and India:
1. India vs Australia (2008 CB Series 2nd final)
India and Australia met in the 2nd finals of CB series tri-series with the third team Sri Lanka. After India won the first finals at Sydney, both teams faced off each at Brisbane on 4th March 2008.
In that match, the then Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. Robin Uthappa and Sachin Tendulkar got the team off to a good start putting on 94 runs for the first wicket. It was a good batting display by India with Tendulkar being the top scorer with 91 runs. Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni scored valuable runs for the team, helping Men in Blue to post 258 for 9 in 50 overs.
Chasing the target of 259, Australia lost 3 early wickets for 32 runs. Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds added 89 runs for the fourth wicket. Symonds, Hayden, and Mike Hussey scored important runs for Australia. James Hopes played a great knock of 63. With 10 runs needed off 3 balls, James Hopes gave a catch to Piyush Chawla handing India 9 runs victory as Australia were bowled out for 249 in 49.4 overs.
2. India vs Australia (2009)
India and Australia played in another thrilling match during the 5th ODI match played at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on 5th November 2009. It was a high scoring match. Australia won the toss and elected to bat first.
Shaun Marsh scored 112 while Shane Watson chipped in with 93 runs. Ricky Pointing, Cameron White, and Micheal Hussey played cameo innings which helped Australia to post a massive total of 350 for 4 in 50 overs.
Chasing a total of 351 runs, Sachin Tendulkar played a great knock of 175 runs. Apart from Suresh Raina who scored 59, Virender Sehwag 38, Ravindra Jadeja with 23 runs, the rest of batting line up failed. India were bowled out for 347 in 49.4 overs; thus falling short by three runs.
3. India vs Australia (2013)
Australia visited India for the seven-match ODI series in 2013. It was the 6th ODI match with series 2-1 in favour of Australia. Indian captain MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to field.
Aussie openers Phil Hughes and Aaron Finch were dismissed cheaply. Shane Watson and captain George Bailey scored centuries while Adam Voges knocked 44 runs in quick time to propel Australia to a massive total of 350 for 6.
Chasing the target of 351, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan added 178 runs for the first wicket. Dhawan was dismissed for 79. Sharma scored a brilliant century along with Virat Kohli, who chipped in with 115 not out and MS Dhoni remained 25 not out to help India win the match by six wickets with 3 balls to spare. With this victory, the host levelled the series 2-2.
4. India vs Australia 7th ODI (2013)
India and Australia played in another high scoring match during the deciding ODI played at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru. Australian captain Bailey elected to bowl after winning the toss. Indian openers Rohit Sharma and Dhawan added 112 runs for the first wicket.
Rohit Sharma played one of the best innings scoring 209 runs in 158 balls with 12 fours and 16 sixes. MS Dhoni also contributed with 62 in 38 balls which helped India to post a massive total of 383 for 6 in 50 overs.
Chasing the target of 384, Australia lost wickets at regular intervals to be at 138 for 6. Glenn Maxwell scored a quickfire 60 in 22 balls, James Faulkner played a great inning to score 116 in 73 balls with 11 fours and 6 sixes. The all-rounder tried his best to give Australia win but were bowled out for 326 in 45.1 overs. India won the match by 57 runs and sealed the series 3-2.
5. India vs Australia (2016)
Both these teams played in another well-contested match during the 3rd ODI match at Melbourne Cricket Ground, MCG on 17th January 2016. Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss and elected to bowl first.
Rohit Sharma was dismissed cheaply for 6 runs. Shikhar Dhawan scored 68 runs, Rahane also contributed 50 runs, MS Dhoni made 23 in 23 balls. Virat Kohli played a brilliant knock of 117 in 117 balls to help India post 295 for 6 in 50 overs.
Chasing 296, Shaun Marsh made 62 runs, captain Steve Smith 41, George Bailey 23. Glenn Maxwell played a match-winning knock of 96 before being dismissed. James Faulkner remained not out on 21 which helped Australia win the match by 3 wickets with 7 balls to spare. It will go down as one of the top 5 ODI matches between India and Australia of all time.