Nagpur: After left-arm spinner Axar Patel’s (3/38) fine bowling effort, Rohit Sharma (125, 109b, 11×4, 5×6) led India to an emphatic seven-wicket victory in the fifth ODI against Australia here, Sunday.
Rohit who pulled a Nathan Coulter-Nile (1/42) delivery over midwicket to bring up his 14th ODI century, also completed his 6,000 ODI runs during the knock.
Chasing a target of 243 runs, Rohit along with his opening partner Ajinkya Rahane (61, 74b, 7×4) gave the hosts yet another wonderful start as the duo added 124 runs inside 23 overs before the latter got out after scoring his fourth half century on trot.
It didn’t cost much as Rohit and skipper Virat Kohli (39, 55b, 2×4) played sensible cricket, adding 99 runs for the second wicket. However, with 20 runs to win, Rohit played tired pull off an Adam Zampa (2/59) delivery to be caught at the deep midwicket. Zampa also got rid of another set batsman Kohli in the same over. The fate was already decided though, with Kedar Jadhav (5 n o) and Manish Pandey (11 n o) finished the things off in the 43rd over.
Earlier, a fine bowling effort by Patel helped India restrict Australia to 242 for nine after Steve Smith won the toss and opting to bat.
Australia once again failed to build on a promising start provided by David Warner (53, 62b, 5×4) and Aaron Finch (32, 36b, 6×4) to end up with a below par total. Jasprit Bumrah (2/51) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/40) were yet again brilliant in the death overs.
Australia reached 60 for no loss in 10 overs after they had scored just 21 in the first five. Kohli then brought in Hardik Pandya (1/14) and the lanky all-rounder struck in his second over, dismissing Finch, breaking a 66-run opening stand.
The spin trio of Patel, Kuldeep Yadav (0/48) and Kedar Jadhav (1/48) then came into play and were able to stem the flow of runs. Part-timer Jadhav was impressive and took the prized wicket of Smith, leaving Australia at 100 for two in the 20th over.
Two quick wickets, Warner and Peter Handscomb, followed Smith’s dismissal triggering a middle-order collapse for Australia as they were reduced to 118 for four in the 25th over.
Travis Head (42, 59b, 4×4) and Marcus Stoinis (46, 63b, 4×4, 1×6) 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.
Men-in-blue regain top spot in ODIs with a 4-1 series win against Australia
Brief scores
Australia 242/9 (David Warner 53, Marcus Stoinis 46; Axar Patel 3/38) lost to India 243/3 (Rohit Sharma 125, Ajinkya Rahane 61) by seven wickets.
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