Five best economy rates when India faced Australia

In the recently concluded third One Day International between India and Australia at Indore, Indian bowlers did well to keep the likes of Aaron Finch, Steve Smith, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Travis Head quiet in the fag end of the innings and thus restricted the Aussies to a total under 300. Australia could have easily gone past the 330 mark with the position they were in after the end of the 37th over.

The Indian bowling attack, made up of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya and wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal bowled really well in the last 13 overs conceding just 71 runs and picking up five wickets.

Now, let us have a look back at the the top five bowlers who had the best economy rates when India faced Australia in One Day Internationals. (Minimum 250 overs)

#5 Steve Waugh

Stephen Rodger Waugh, at one point of time was tagged as a "moderately talented" cricketer and even lost his place for his brother Mark, ended up with over 18000 international runs. Apart from being a class act when the bat was in his hands, Waugh was really good with his right arm medium pace too, as he picked up 287 international wickets.

The former Australian captain had a good economy rate of 4.92 against India eventhough he used to bowl at a time when Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid and Azharuddin were at their best.

Waugh ended up with 43 wickets in 53 games with a best of 4/40 against the Indians.

#4 Anil Kumble

The tall leg-break bowling legend was, unlike his contemporaries, not a very big turner of the ball. Pace and accuracy were the two biggest attributes of the Bangalore-born former Indian Captain Anil Kumble.

Kumble ended his career as the third-highest wicket taker in international cricket with 956 scalps. Nicknamed "Jumbo", the tall Kumble played 29 ODIs against the Aussies and picked up 31 wickets with the best of 3/42.

The former Indian head coach had an economy of 4.89 even after bowling to the greatest of the Aussie legends like Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan and Matthew Hayden on flat tracks most of the time.

#3 Harbhajan Singh

Nicknamed "The Turbanator", Harbhajan Singh was without doubt one of the finest off-break bowlers that India has ever produced. With 269 wickets in 231 ODIs, Harbhajan shouldered the responsibility of keeping the opposition batsmen under check in the middle overs.

Having picked up 32 wickets in 35 ODIs with the best of 3/37, Harbhajan particularly enjoyed his outings against Australia. He troubled the all time highest run getter for the Aussies - Ricky Ponting on numerous occasions both home and away.

With his variations, it was very hard for the most oppositions to pick him, and thus, have a go at him. Harbhajan, who conceded 4.63 runs per over against Aussies is third on our list.

#2 Brett Lee

The New South Wales born quicky, hit 100mph numerous times and averaged less than 20 in his early years. Being one of the most loved foreign players in India, Brett Lee picked up 380 ODI wickets.

Brett Lee had very good times against the Indians. In spite of having bowled to the Indian legends like Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Sehwag at their prime, "Binga" picked up 55 ODI wickets in just 32 games picking five wickets four times with the best of 5/27.

Even after opening the bowling against the aggressive Indian Openers and fierce finishers, Lee had a very good economy of 4.49 runs per over.

#1 Kapil Dev

Kapil Dev was one of the finest all-rounder the game has ever seen. He was one of India's main strike bowlers in the most of the games he has played.

Dev delivered graceful outswingers with a beautiful action and even developed unplayable inswinging yorkers against the tail-enders afterwards. The former Indian skipper picked up 253 ODI wickets in 225 games.

"The Haryana Hurricane" faced the Aussies in 41 ODI matches and picked up 45 wickets with a best of 5/43.

Though the Aussies had very good batsmen at that time, Kapil Dev gave away just 3.67 runs per over which is the best for a bowler who has bowled at least 250 overs in India vs Australia one day international games.