5 takeaways for India from the India-Australia series

On the back of Rohit Sharma's magnificent 125 and brilliant death bowling, India completed a 7-wicket win in the fifth and the final one-day and also completed a comprehensive 4-1 series rout against the Aussies. India have now won six consecutive bilateral series and this juggernaut just continues. They were simply brilliant throughout the series with different players standing up and performing in every game.

They started the series as favourites and played that way. They were dominant and it was a complete team performance and this 4-1 scoreline would give immense satisfaction to the team management.

So, let’s have a look at the 5 biggest takeaways for India.

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#5 Rahane’s consistency and the opening partnership

Since the Champions Trophy this year, India have played three ODI series and in each of them, they’ve had a different opening combination (Dhawan-Rahane in West Indies, Dhawan-Rohit in Sri Lanka and Rohit-Rahane here). And in each of the series, the openers have done very well in setting up the game.

In the last 3 games against Australia, Rohit-Rahane duo have combined to get 3 consecutive century partnerships (139, 106 and 124). They have more or less provided a brisk start ensuring the middle order isn’t exposed too early.

Ajinkya Rahane has been in and out of the one-day team for quite some time now. After a man of the series performance in West Indies, he played just one game in Sri Lanka as India went back to their regular openers. But Dhawan’s absence helped him come back into the team. He looked scratchy in his first innings but soon got into the groove as he struck four consecutive fifties (55, 70, 53 and 61). India will be very pleased with his consistency as he has struggled for the same in the past.

Now, when Dhawan returns the Indian team management will have a happy headache of choosing their openers with Rohit, Rahane and Dhawan – all in great touch and with Rahul waiting in the wings, it's good competition!

#4 Flexibility

India experimented with a few things according to the situation of the game and most of them paid off.

‘Flexibility’ and ‘experiment’ were two words that have been doing rounds during the Indian team’s press conferences especially when a batsman was addressing it.

One of the main concerns for India ahead of this series was the batting order. Positions haven’t been fixed but India have been able to identify certain players who can play different roles in different situations.

For example, Pandya was tried at No. 4 in a couple of games to try and take the game away from Australia by attacking the spinners and it paid off. Manish Pandey after failing in the first couple of outings (in his designated No. 4 position) did well at No. 6 and Jadhav and Dhoni showed they can bat at any position.

#3 Wrist spinners

Chahal and Kuldeep have done really well both together and individually.

One of the big talking points in limited-overs cricket has been wrist-spin and it’s simply because even if wrist-spinners go for runs they come back and pick wickets. And India played both their wrist-spinners (Chahal and Kuldeep) in the first three games and gave a break to each of them in the last two.

These spinners have stepped up and have the numbers to back them as well. With 7 and 6 wickets respectively in 4 games each, Kuldeep and Chahal have invariably brought India back in the game when it was running away.

Picking up wickets at regular intervals, and also offering some control in the middle overs, the wrist-spinners played a big part in this series. Thus, they are one of the biggest positives for India in this series.

#2 Death bowling and the ability to bounce back under pressure

Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar have been exceptional at the death.

Australia had their moments in each of the 5 games. But their inability to capitalize on crucial moments of the game may have cost them the series. They put India under pressure in most of the games and failed to cash in.

Bouncing back from 11/3 then 87/5 in Chennai, defending 252 in Kolkata, restricting 224/1 in 38 overs to 293/6 on a belter in Indore and chasing 243 on a sluggish and tough Nagpur track, India kept winning key moments and came back from difficult situations. More importantly, every time India were put under pressure, they found different players stepping up in different situations.

The death bowling was absolutely brilliant. Bumrah and Bhuvneshwar are one of the best in the business at the moment in world cricket. They never allowed the batsmen to score freely at the death. In fact, they helped India pull back things pretty nicely in the 3rd and 5th one-days as they applied the brakes on the scoring rate.

The following stat proves their worth – Australia between overs 36 and 50: Indore: 87/5 (3 X 4; 2 X 6), Nagpur: 74/5 (3 X 4; 1 X 6).

#1 Hardik Pandya

Pandya has matured immensely in all departments and understood his role well

The biggest gain for India this series has to be the evolution of Hardik Pandya. He did everything right in this series. Scoring runs when the team is in trouble, giving important breakthroughs and a live-wire in the field.

He deservingly won the Man of the Series as well for his all-round show. These numbers are outstanding - 222 runs at an average of 55.50 with a strike-rate of 108.82 and 6 wickets at an average of 31.33.

Consistently scoring runs, a blistering 83 when India were 87/5 in Chennai, a stable 20 to help India bat out 50 overs in Kolkata, a mature 78 at No. 4 in Indore to help India chase down 294. India knew the batting prowess Pandya had, but it’s the bowling that they will be pleased with. Consistently providing crucial breakthroughs (his wickets in the series are Smith – twice, Head, Warner, Finch and Coulter-Nile).

Pandya has lent the much-needed balance to this Indian team and has the capability to become the all-rounder India has been searching for a long time.