India registered their third consecutive bilateral ODI series win against Australia on home soil. With the 5-match ODI series win, India have now levelled 4-4 against the Aussies in overall bilateral series played on home turf since 1984. (Read our History Recap articles – Australia in India Part 1 and 2 to know more.)
During the period between 2010-2017, India have done exceedingly well to register three back-to-back bilateral series wins against Australia on Indian soil. An unassailable 4-1 result in 2017, this has been India’s most comprehensive win yet. In a delightful turn of events, much of the series win can be attributed to the brilliant bowling in the death overs – courtesy Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. Overall, the bowling attack has done exceptionally well to restrict the Australian team time and again in the last 10 overs. Surprisingly, while Aaron Finch and David Warner both recorded centuries for Australia, only Rohit Sharma managed to do so for India. His innings of 125 off 109 balls in the 5th ODI in Nagpur was India’s best individual score. Interestingly, Sharma has been the top scorer in the last three bilateral series between India and Australia. And even though Australia had enough opportunity through the entire series, they only came out strong and capitalized on their 231-run opening stand to record a win in the 4th ODI. With the win they also managed to halt India’s form-line at 9 straight wins, which still remains their longest win-streak. India has never won 10 games in a row in the history of the format.
However, India still have a lot to play for. They surged to the top of the ICC ODI rankings following their 2nd ODI win in Indore – lost the spot briefly after losing the 4th ODI in Bengaluru – and regained the No. 1 position by winning the fifth and final ODI in Nagpur. This is the first time India holds the No. 1 ranking in both Tests and ODIs. And should they win the T20 series against Australia and New Zealand, they will hold the No. 1 ranking in all three formats.
– Varun Kumar | SpreadSports
