ICC World Cup 2019: Match 14, India vs Australia, Review: Men in Blue prove to be too good for the defending champions

Shikhar Dhawan was the star of the day for India even as the two pacers Bhuvi and Bumrah shared six wickets equally.

Published - 09 Jun 2019, 18:09 IST | Updated - 09 Jun 2019, 18:09 IST

4 Min Read

India have managed to break Australia’s 10-match streak in the ODIs. They defeated the five-time and the defending champions by 36 runs at the Kennington Oval. It was a clinical performance from the Men in Blue as their batsmen scored enough runs batting first and then the bowlers did their job to perfection. Shikhar Dhawan was the star with the bat while the others chipped in with crucial runs to post a mammoth on the board.

After electing to bat first, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan provided the team with a perfect start. The duo took their time early on and played out the new ball carefully. Pat Cummins and Mitchell Starc bowled tight lines as well but they couldn’t break the partnership. Dhawan smartly took the attack to Nathan Coulter-Nile and then also went after Adam Zampa.

Rohit, meanwhile, took his time to get going and slammed an impressive half-century. Even Dhawan got to the 50-run mark even as the things looked ominous for Australia. The 127-run partnership was broken by Coulter-Nile by dismissing Rohit for 57. Virat Kohli came out to bat and the bowlers resorted to the outside the off-stump line straightaway.

Like South Africa did, even Australia cut down his singles through the third-man area. But the World number 1 batsman found ways of scoring and soon got into his elements. He stitched a crucial partnership of 93 runs with Dhawan who got to his 17th ODI ton in the 33rd over. This also turned out to be his third ton in the format at The Oval. He was eventually dismissed on 117 in the 37th with the score reading 220/2.

Hardik Pandya was promoted up the batting order and the move worked for India. While Kohli went past the 50-run mark, Hardik blunted the leather brutally. He scored a quickfire 48 off just 27 balls to propel the team past 300. MS Dhoni also had some fun with a 27-run knock of 14 balls while Kohli looked exceptional during his 82 which came off just 77 balls.

India posted a mammoth total of 352 runs for the loss of five wickets on the board after 50 overs. All the Aussie bowlers were at the receiving end in which Marcus Stoinis showed heart to bowl in the death overs and returned with the figures of 2/62 in his seven overs.

Australia fight but to no avail

David Warner and Aaron Finch had to be extremely cautious at the start with Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah not giving easy deliveries to hit. They had hit only two boundaries in the ninth over and had to take on Hardik Pandya to get going. When it felt, the Aussie skipper was in his elements, he was involved in a mix-up with his partner and courtesy a brilliant fielding effort from Kedar Jadhav, was run out.

Steve Smith came out and did the usual thing. He held one end perfectly and used his foot superbly while playing the spinners. But Warner got stuck and couldn’t score at a quick pace. He eventually got out to Yuzvendra Chahal on 56 off 82 deliveries. Here, Australia needed to send Glenn Maxwell with the required run-rate already getting out of control. However, Usman Khawaja batted at four and though he didn’t fare badly, by the time he got out to Bumrah, the required run-rate had shot to 10.

Maxwell, however, came out and flaunted his skills superbly to leave everyone stunned. But Bhuvneshwar Kumar struck a double blow. He first caught Smith in front of the stumps and prompted to take Kohli a review to send the former Aussie captain on 69. In the same over, he castled Marcus Stoinis to leave Maxwell frustrated in the middle. Expectedly, Maxi tried to attack the leggie Chahal in the very next over and was holed out which eventually ended the chase for Australia.

But Alex Carey showed great heart and played a blinder. He was a lone fighter in the end for his team as the Men in Yellow ended up well short of the target.