India v Australia, 4th ODI – CT Player of the match: David Warner

The ‘pocket-sized dynamo’ finally rose to the occasion to score a memorable hundred at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Though this was an inconsequential game as India has already won the series, the intensity of both teams didn’t diminish one bit during the course of the fourth ODI.

Smith called right at the toss and decided to take first use of the placid wicket which has a reputation for being a graveyard for the bowlers. Warner, as his former skipper Clarke suggested before the game, let his attacking instincts take over when the game kick-started. Playing in his 100th ODI, Warner drove Shami through mid-off to collect his first boundary in the 3rd over and looked confident from thereon. He drove, pulled and took the aerial route on occasions to move onto 29 off 25 balls at the end of the first Powerplay.

Warner targets the spinners

Just when India thought that they have pegged back Australia a wee bit, Warner hit his first six and followed it up with a boundary off Axar Patel to reach his first fifty of the tour which came off just 45 balls. In a quest to stop Warner’s assault, Kohli called upon Yuzvendra Chahal. The leg-spinner delivered a quiet first over but was slog-swept for a six in the next one by Warner to make his intentions very clear. In the over after, Warner danced down the pitch first ball to bludgeon the ball over midwicket for another six.

Kohli had to bring in Kedar Jadhav into the attack for the first time in the series because his bowlers struggled in Bengaluru. By the time Jadhav was bowling his second over, Warner cut him for a boundary to reach his 14th ODI ton off 102 balls. It was his 10th ODI hundred in the last 20 months as the Australian vice-captain has soared to greater heights in recent times.

Finch sizzles, Warner holes out to Jadhav

It was Jadhav, who eventually got the southpaw’s wicket after the opener had amassed 124 runs. His 119-ball stay at the wicket contained 12 boundaries and 4 sixes. Warner was involved in a 231-run opening partnership with last match’s centurion, Aaron Finch. The broad Victorian narrowly missed out on scoring consecutive hundreds as he fell to a needless attempted swat which landed safely in the hands of Hardik Pandya at mid-on.

Warner had scored just 68 runs in 3 innings in the series and was due for a big knock. The remarkable aspect about the Sunrisers’ skipper is that when he plays a big knock, more often than not it takes his side home. He is an impact player and he displayed those attributes in Bengaluru today. He was adjudged the Man of the Match for his 124-run knock which laid the foundation of a 21-run win for the Australians.