Australia had every reason to be optimistic about the final game of the ODI series after arresting the poor form and turning momentum in their favour during the 4th game. But India had other ideas, recalling their frontline bowlers to re-apply the screws to the patchy Australian batting lineup.
Things started well for Australia once again winning the toss and electing to bat Warner and Finch raced to make 66 for the opening partnership before Finch mis-timed an off-drive in the 12th over and was caught. From there it was a steady decline as the Indian spinners took control and Smith, Handscomb and Head all fell while attempting sweep shots. The run rate stalled and Australia limped to a weak total of just 242 for 9 wickets.
Spin again did the damage against the Australian middle order
With such a low total it was never going to be a difficult task for India in home conditions. Rahane and Sharma cruised while putting on a solid opening partnership of 124. When Rahane was out LBW to Coulter-Nile in the 23rd over Kohli took his place playing a steady and conservative innings to guide the Indian chase. Sharma finished with 125 off 109 and Kohli 39 off 55 and both were out in the 40th over when the game had practically been won. In the end India made the total easily in the 43rd over with 7 wickets still in hand, rubbing salt into the wounds of the Australians with the most dominant win of the series.
All series the Top 3 for India have made it look easy
So the series is over with India winning 4 games to 1. It was a disappointing series for Australia as they would have been counting on being a lot more competitive than they were. Once again spin bowling in sub-continent conditions has been the Achilles Heel of the Australian batsmen and there are no easy fixes in sight with the best of three T20 series kicking off on Saturday. The Australians will need to regroup and change things up if they hope to be competitive in what has recently been their weakest format. If form is anything to go by the Indians will fancy their chances of a 3-0 clean sweep.
Stay tuned for more updates as the T20 series draws closer.
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