Twitter Reactions: Clinical Australia win their first ODI series since January 2017

Australia have managed to do an unthinkable. They have beaten India in the five-match ODI series staging one of the remarkable comebacks after being 0-2 down. More than anything, this is their first series victory in the 50-over format since January 2017 and ahead of the World Cup, this comes as a huge confidence booster for them. Defending 273 runs to seal the series, the visitors bundled out the Men in Blue for just 237 runs to register a 35-run win.

India lost an early wicket of Shikhar Dhawan in the chase thanks to the ever reliant Pat Cummins and then the duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were near flawless. Both added 53 runs for the second wicket partnership in a quick time and just when the momentum was shifting India’s way, the latter got out against the run of play. Marcus Stoinis played the spoilsport here to stun the crowd by sending the local boy back to the hut.

Rishabh Pant batted at four today and even he cannot make the most of the opportunity. He also blown away his chances of making it to the World Cup now after another low score. Vijay Shankar looked good while he was in the middle but was lured into a big shot unnecessarily to throw his wicket. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma got to his half-century but failed to get going eventually to get stumped off Adam Zampa.

His wicket turned the game in Australia’s favour. Ravindra Jadeja continued to fail with the bat even as Kedar Jadhav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept the team in the game with a fighting partnership. However, the pressure was always on them to up the ante and both fell in quick succession which ended India’s hopes. They also lost the series at home for the first time since 2015-16 series against South Africa.

Khawaja leads the charts again

Earlier in the day, Australia won the toss and chose to bat. Their openers Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja got them off to a brilliant start with the former being castled by Jadeja. But Khawaja batted beautifully again rotating the strike well and also notched up yet another century. Peter Handscomb also slammed a half-century to almost seal his place in the team now.

They were sitting pretty at 175/1 in the 33rd over and it felt like Australia will score more than 300 easily. But India made a stunning comeback and picked wickets in clusters. The visitors could only add 97 runs for the last eight wickets to end up on 272 after 50 overs. The score was enough though in the end as they sealed a historic series win to become only the fifth team to come out victorious after being 0-2 down.

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