Rohit Sharma became the third batsmen to score back-to-back ODI centuries on Australian soil. That did earn him the Player of the Match award even as India lost comfortably at Gabba, 10th defeat for them. But, again Dhawan failed, Dhoni, Jadeja, Manish Pandey and Ashwin failed miserably too. Besides Kohli only Rahane could fight against the second grade Australian bowling. While Indian batsmen should have scored more, fielders should have held catches and done better to support bowling on a track which had nothing for bowling. But, that did not happen and Aussies mauled Indians in another big record chase, and are now just a win away from series win, and also creating the World record of maximum consecutive wins at home by any team.
Ind in Aus: ODI Squads, Schedule and Results, Ind vs Aus Bilateral ODI Series History, Ind vs Aus T20 Record
Match Statistics
- Rohit Sharma was the MOM for his century.
3rd back-to-back ODI century by any player in Australia vs Aussies, after Graeme Hick (1999) and Laxman (2004).
16th consecutive ODI win at home by Aussies equals the world record of WI (1986-90) and Sri Lanka (1998-2000).
308 is the highest total by a visiting team at Gabba.
309 is the highest run in chase at Gabba.
19-12 lead of Australia over India in 300+ scores in ODIs.
Dhawan was there just for 2.2 overs caught behind on 6. Kohli (59 from 67 balls) added 125 runs for 2nd wicket with Rohit Sharma (124 from 127 balls), who added another century partnership for third wicket. He added 121 runs with Rahane (80 runs from 80 balls), who felt the pressure in the last overs and was back to pavillion with 9 balls left in the innings. In between, Dhoni came and returned without making much impact scoring just 11 runs. The last 9 balls saw Manish Pandey (6), Jadeja (5) and Ashwin (1) doing nothing much and India restricted only to 308/8 in a flat batting track against a bowling which is not even second grade by Australian standard.
Aussies started firing all guns but Sran and Ishant gained upper hand. They could not take wickets though. Even Umesh Yadav, Jadeja and Ashwin played a key role till 21st over when Finch (71) and Shaun Marsh (71) somehow survived to add century partnership. After that as they opened up, Indians had no answers. Smith (46) was the only other wicket to fall. Bailey (76* from 58 balls) and Maxwell (26* from 25 balls) hardly faced any challenges in taking Aussies to 16th consecutive ODI win at home.
Aussies won by 7 wickets creating record of highest chase at Gabba, scoring their third 300+ score at Brisbane ground as India created record of adding the biggest total by a visiting team on the ground.
Now, as the Indians move to Melbourne for the third ODI, they know Australians have three games at hand to win the series. Unless Dhoni tinkers his team, who knows it may be another record loss for Indians, this time in ODI.
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