Dhoni joins Sachin, Virat in the elite list

The legendary wicketkeeper-batsman, MS Dhoni, scored three fifties in the three matches against Australia and was named the Man of the Series. He finished unbeaten in the last two matches scoring 55 off 54 at Adelaide and 87 off 114 balls at MCG.

During his knock of 87, Dhoni became only the fourth Indian batsman to have scored 1000 ODI runs in Australia after Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, and Rohit Sharma.

There were questions about his form in 2018 where he did not manage a single score of fifty but, he answered his critics by finishing off the last two matches for India and handing them their first ODI series win against Australia in their own backyard.

In the post-match presentation, Dhoni said - "The wicket was slow which made it difficult to play shots. Their main bowlers bowled a very tight line in the middle overs so, it was important to take it to the end keeping in mind the bowlers we had to target in these conditions".

"Our game plan was simple that, we'll give respect to the bowlers that are bowling well because there's no point going after them and losing a wicket. Kedar batted well well and eased off the pressure from me."

Australia made the match out of what did not look like a challenging score. Jhye Richardson was the pick of their bowlers, giving away only 27 runs in his 10 overs and picked up the crucial wicket of Virat Kohli. Adam Zampa bowled his quota of 10 overs for just 34 runs.

Dhoni was involved in two 50-run partnerships, first with Virat and then Kedar. India needed 44 runs from the last 5 overs but it was not a huge task with both the set batters at the crease. Dhoni picked the gap regularly with Jadhav taking the odd risk made it difficult for Australian bowlers to pitch the ball where they wanted.

Jadhav won the match for India by hitting Marcus Stoinis for a four in the last over of the match.

Former and the Present Captain of Indian Cricket Team

India had an exceptional tour of Australia where they leveled the T20 series after trailing 1-0, won the Test and the ODI Series 2-1 for the first time in the history of Indian Cricket. With this their outstanding summer in Australia comes to an end.

India will now head to New Zealand for the ODI and T20 series which starts next week.