5 takeaways for Australia from the India-Australia series

Australia were expected to come hard at India and compete. Well, they did compete very well in almost all games, but failed to seize key moments in every game and as a result ended up losing the series 4-1. They failed to capitalise on good starts with both bat and ball. Unlike India, they couldn’t find players to bail them out of pressure situations.

Australia now don’t play until mid-January and so they have plenty of time to reflect on their ODI game. But, there were a few positives for the Aussies. Let’s have a look at 5 of the biggest takeaways for them.

---

#5 Death bowling

If there’s one area where the Aussie bowlers came close to matching their counterparts was death bowling. They were very good at the death in the absence of their specialist death bowler, Mitchell Starc. Except for the Chennai game (the first one-day), they executed the plan very well and did not really allow India a big finish.

In Kolkata, India were in control at 185/3 in 35 overs with and Kohli and Jadhav scoring easily, 300 was on the cards. But, the Australian pacers did well to restrict India and bowled them out for 252.

Again in the fourth ODI in Bangalore, India needed 95 in the last 10 overs and the Aussie bowlers conceded only 73 helping Australia win. Coulter-Nile, Richardson and Cummins – all of them executed the yorkers and the variations to very good effect.

#4 Nathan Coulter-Nile and Kane Richardson

Coulter-Nile led Australia's bowling well

At the start of the series, it was suggested that Australia’s bowling would miss the services of their spearheads Starc and Hazlewood badly. But that wasn’t entirely the case. Coulter-Nile was exceptional in all five games.

Swinging the ball at the start, controlling the flow of runs in the middle and at the death. Every time Smith wanted a wicket, he would go to Coulter-Nile and more often than not he obliged. With 10 wickets, he was the highest wicket-taker of the series.

Richardson played just three games but made a big impact in all the games. Taking 7 wickets in 3 ODIs was a big effort from him. He was instrumental in Australia defending 334 in the fourth one-day as he picked up 3/58 (picking up wickets of Rahane, Jadhav and Dhoni).

Australia will be very happy with the performances of Richardson and Coulter-Nile as it gives them good backup options when their spearheads return.

#3 Pat Cummins

Cummins bowled his heat out in every game

Australia will also be very happy with the performance of Pat Cummins. He bowled brilliantly in every game and was unlucky to finish with just 4 wickets. But his economy of 4.68 was the second-best in the series.

Apart from his bowling performance, Australia will be pleased with his fitness as he has a history of breaking down. Cummins has now been a part every ODI that Australia have played in 2017. In ddition to this, he has made a successful return to Test cricket.

He braved the heat and bowled his heart out in every game and gave his 100% effort even while fielding. These are positive signs for Australia with their fast bowlers fully fit and firing.

#2 The all-round show of Marcus Stoinis

A good all-round show from Stoinis has helped Australia find an able No. 6

Before this ODI series, Stoinis had played only 3 ODIs. Even though he was a part of Australia’s Champions Trophy squad he failed to play a single game. But here in India, Australia have found an able all-rounder who can bat at No. 6 and give them 10 overs on a regular basis.

The performance of Marcus Stoinis was one of the biggest positives for Australia. With the bat, the world had seen a glimpse of him when he scored that magnificent 146 in New Zealand, but in this series, he further showed why he can be relied upon during tough situations.

In the second one-day, when Australia’s chase of 253 was disrupted by Kuldeep Yadav’s hat-trick, the all-rounder kept hopes alive with a brilliant 62. In the third and fifth ODIs, he held one end up as he scored 27 not out and 46 preventing a collapse and helped Australia bat out the 50 overs.

The Victoria all-rounder showed he can bat at different stages of the game and can bowl at any stage of the game as well. He can use his variations to good effect and stem the run-flow in the middle-overs.

#1 Warner’s improving record in Asia

Warner was brilliant in the last 3 games of the series.

Warner’s struggles in Asia are no secret. And his record has notbeen great. In Tests against Bangladesh, he made significant strides towards correcting his record by scoring two big centuries.

Even in ODIs, Warner didn’t boast of a great record, he had 308 runs (one century and one fifty) in 12 games at an average of 25.67 before the start of this series.

In this series, he got into his groove slowly (with a couple of failures in the first two games) but finished as the third highest run-getter in the series (second-highest for Australia). With scores of 42, 124 and 53 in the last three games, Warner showed his class and power.

Not only this, it also showed how much Australia depend on him and Finch. Whenever Warner scored, Australia ended up with a big score in this series. His contribution and his improvement in Asia is the biggest takeaway for Australia from this series.