3 Indian captains who have won an ODI series in Australia

Team India ended the long tour of Australia on a high after beating the hosts in the third and the final ODI. After the historic Test series, the Indian team extended it's dominance in the ODI series as well by winning the series 2-1. Even though India won the ODI series comprehensively this time around, historically, it hasn't been an easy task to conquer the Australian team in their own backyard.

Team India does not have a great ODI record playing in Australia. Even before the golden era of Australian cricket, Australia has always been a tough side to beat at home, and not only India but all the visiting teams had little success against the home team.

However, three Indian teams have been able to win an ODI series in Australia. Here are those three captains under whom the Indian team won ODI series in Australia.

#3 Virat Kohli

Kohli was exceptional with his captaincy in the series

It was a rare occasion where the visiting team started the ODI series as favourites against Australia in Australia. Ever since the bans on Steve Smith and David Warner, the Australian team has been in shambles and had struggled to find any kind of rhythm in ODI cricket. On the other hand, Team India was in top form coming into the ODI series. And despite losing the first match of the series, the Indian team came back strongly in the last two matches to win the ODI series 2-1.

Virat Kohli was exceptional with the bat and also led the side beautifully. His team selections were spot on and he was extremely impressive in the field. Mahendra Singh Dhoni also performed exceedingly well in the series and was named the Player of the series. This was also India's first ever bilateral series win in ODIs in Australia.

#2 Sunil Gavaskar

The Champion side of 1985

The first time when India won an ODI series in Australia was way back in 1985. Under Sunil Gavaskar, the Indian team won the World Championship of Cricket, a tournament that featured top seven teams of that time.

India remained undefeated in the group stage beating Pakistan, Australia and England and topped the group. In the semi-final, Team India defeated New Zealand comprehensively by 7 wickets to set up a title clash with arch-rivals Pakistan in the finals. But Pakistan was no match for the strong Indian side, who won the match by 8 wickets.

Kris Srikkanth was named the Player of the match for his knock of 67 runs. Incidentally, India's current coach, Ravi Shastri, was the Player of the series owing to his terrific all-round performance throughout the tournament. India won most of their matches in the tournament convincingly and that was one of the most dominating performances in the history of ODI cricket of India.

#1 MS Dhoni

Team India beat a strong Australian side in 2008

One captain who was able to win an ODI series against Australia when they were in their prime was MS Dhoni. In the Commonwealth Bank Tri-series, that also featured Sri Lanka in 2008, Team India defeated an Australian side that consisted of the likes of Ricky Ponting, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds, Michael Hussey, Michael Clarke, Brett Lee and Mitchell Johnson.

The Indian team was going through a transition phase with a lot of young players still finding their way in international cricket. Even though India had a young side, under their talismanic leader MS Dhoni, they were able to win the series by defeating the world champions in the first two matches of the best of three finals. Apart from his shrewd captaincy, Dhoni did well as a batsman too, scoring 347 runs, third highest among all sides, in the series.

This series is considered as a stepping stone for the greatness that MS Dhoni later achieved in his career.