5 talking points from 4th ODI between India and Australia

Australia defeated India in the 4th ODI match of the Victoria Bitter series. Australia finished with 348 runs while losing 8 wickets. India started their innings strong but failed to capitalize on their hot start as they lost all wickets by the last over while making 323 runs. The chase came up short by 25 runs.Here are 5 talking points from this match:

#1 Whirlwind twenty overs

The match saw plenty of action over these overs

Australia’s last ten overs and India’s first ten overs saw a flurry of runs being scored. This served to shift the momentum considerably for both sides while they were on their streaks. Australia scored 111 runs in the last ten overs of the match. They knocked 47 in the final four overs and a whooping 18 runs in the final over.

Facing a substantial target, India came raring out of the gate and got off to a great start. They had 80 runs in the first 10 overs. This tied them with Australia for the second most runs scored in the first ten overs by a team against Australia in Australia since 2002. New Zealand holds the record with 90 runs scored in 2009.

#2 Dynamic duo partnerships

David Warner and Aaron Finch put the hosts in the driver’s seat

It usually takes a dynamic duo to carry a team for extended periods. Both India and Australia’s attacks featured strong attacks from stable partnerships.

For the hosts, David Warner and Aaron Finch held strong together for a 187 run partnership. Warner finished with 93 runs off of 92 balls and Finch scored 107 runs from 107 balls.

For India Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan went for a partnership of 212 runs which almost saw the visitors run away to a win. Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan had added 65 runs together before Rohit was caught by Bailey on a Hastings delivery.

The Indian partnership was nearly cut short when Dhawan was almost caught by Bailey. But the replays showed that the catch wasn’t clean.

Prior to this match Shikhar Dhawan had scored 8 ODI hundreds and India had won all those matches. But it wasn’t to be this time.

#3 Kohli keeps his promise

Virat Kohli got his 25th ODI century

Virat Kohli was out at 91 runs in the first ODI of the Victoria Bitter series against Australia. After that he promised Wasim Akram to score two more centuries in this series.

Wasim had said of the exchange he had with Kohli: “I met Virat Kohli at the WACA after the game. I told him ‘bad luck you missed a hundred. He replied, ‘Wasim bhai, I will make sure to score 2 (centuries) in the series.”

Kohli kept his word. 13 of his 25 ODI hundreds have now come in successful chases. But this wasn't to be one of them. With his 106 off 92 balls he moved ahead of Sachin Tendulkar for the record of highest aggregate against Australia in any series playing 5 or fewer innings. Sachin had the record of 357 in the Coca-Cola Cup 1991-98.

#4 Injuries galore

Umpire Kettleborough took a hard hit.

The match saw a player and an Umpire leave the field of play to tend to injuries. Umpire Richard Kettleborough had to leave the field when he took a hit off a Aaron Finch drive. He anticipated the ball hitting him and jumped out of its way. But the ball came off the bowler’s hands and changed course to where he landed and hit him regardless. He had to be replaced by Paul Wilson.

For India Ajinkya Rahane had to leave the field and head to the hospital to get four stiches. He suffered split webbing in his right hand while fielding. A spoksman had said that he would bat if required. He did come out to bat but was dismissed for 2 runs off 3 deliveries.

#5 India failing to come through in the clutch

Ishant Sharma took 4 wickets but conceded 77 runs

When the game was coming down to the wire India fell apart, in spite of their strong start which many thought would carry them through. India’s top wicket takers for the match, Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma took 7 wickets combined. But they also conceded 144 runs.

The 77 runs conceded by Ishant Sharma were the most by an India bowler in an ODI in Australia. Virat Kohli was particularly impressive getting to 25 hundreds in his ODI career, for which he took just 162 innings. For context, Kumar Sangakkara took 379 innings to reach 25 hundreds.

Shikhar Dhawan was also impressive with his 126 runs. But after their partnership fell apart, 7 of the next 8 batsmen failed to score in double digits. India only had two other batsmen in double digits, with Ravindra Jadeja scoring 24 runs and opener Rohit Sharma scoring 41 runs.

India will have to be more consistent down the strech to close out such matches.