India vs Australia: 4th ODI- Who Said What

Australia showed nerves of steel after their defeats in Hyderabad and Nagpur respectively. The team, captained by Aaron Finch, won by four wickets at the PCA Stadium in Mohali courtesy of their batsmen, who stepped up and chased down a mammoth target against India. Moreover, they also managed to draw level in the series with the deciding contest set to take place on March 13 in Delhi.

Dhawan dictates terms

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan made sure that India starts off clinically courtesy of a stupendous stand of 193 runs from 31 overs. Both batsmen didn’t have great outings in the first three games and they punched above their weights today. Rohit was unlucky to miss out on a century and he was nipped out by Jhye Richardson after he notched 95 runs from 92 balls with seven fours and a couple of sixes.

Dhawan, on the contrary, got his form back as well. The Delhi-born batter scored 143 runs from 115 balls and his knock was laced with  18 fours and three sixes. Pat Cummins got his prized scalp in the 38th over. KL Rahul made 26 runs from 31 balls on his comeback spree. The hard-working Pat Cummins was the most successful Aussie bowler with a five-wicket haul. Jhye Richardson got rid of three batsmen.

Turner and Handscomb come to the party

The Aussies lost Aaron Finch and Shaun Marsh early in the chase as Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shaun Marsh perished early to speedsters Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah respectively. Thereafter, Usman Khawaja and Peter Handscomb took the onus upon themselves and added 192 runs for the second wicket. Though they didn’t go bonkers but made sure that the scoreboard kept ticking.

Khawaja got out after scoring 91 from 99. Nevertheless, Hnadscomb carried on and raced away to a century. Yuzvendra Chahal got his wicket, much to India’s relief. Then walked in Ashton Turner and he inflicted utter mayhem in the Indian camp. The right-hander, playing his second match, didn’t show any signs of nervousness and got his team home with a knock of 84 from 43 and 13 balls to spare.

Peter Handscomb said

It’s a lovely feeling. My role today was to take it as deep as possible and that hundred today is pretty special. Uzzie (Khawaja) and I don’t talk much in the middle. We leave each other to play their own games. We felt pretty quickly that this is a pretty good wicket and we can chase those runs down. There wasn’t the kind of spin that was there in the previous game. So it was really good for us that we could play our natural game. Maxi (Maxwell) played a beautiful role. It was a team thing… He comes out, takes pressure of me, strikes close to 200 and it was a critical innings. I panicked (smiles). We have seen what we (Turner) can do in the Big Bash. But to do something like that in your second ODI is pretty special and he can take a lot of confidence from that going forward.

Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, said

The wicket remained good throughout the game, we have been on the wrong side of the dew twice in two games. It was very difficult to bowl in the end, guys tried their best but Ashton (Turner) played one hell of a knock, Handscomb and Khawaja played well too but Ashton’s innings was the game-changer. Last game, we were told there would be dew and we were at the wrong side of that. They played better cricket, we got to accept and it’s a record chase, they deserved to win.

If we had won the toss, we would’ve batted first (in Ranchi). We had to get the fifth bowler out of the way tonight. If Kedar and Vijay was bowling with the dew, it would’ve been more difficult, so we wanted to get done with it first (explaining why Chahal was held back). It became too wet to bowl, it was very difficult to bowl in the right areas. Crucial (about the stumping chance), we were sloppy in the field and should’ve grabbed our chances.

But the DRS call was a bit of surprise for all of us and it’s becoming a more of a talking point every game. It’s just not consistent at all, that was a game-changing moment. The opportunities slipped away and so did the game. It’s going to be cracker of a game (in Delhi), we’ve had two eye-openers in two games. We can’t take anything for granted. We have to work hard and we got to come up with more intensity and passion in the next game to try and win the series.

Aaron Finch, the Australian captain, said

I thought the partnership between Usman and Peter was crucial. To be able to get us deep was unbelievable. To get his maiden hundred was outstanding. When we chased 300 totals in Australia, we were trying to go with the same process. The wicket was good, it wasn’t a panic. The plan was to take the game as deep as we could. Ashton playing his second game and playing a match-winning knock and Peter playind such a knock and Usman coming to form was wonderful. We have seen him do that a lot in Big Bash. It was a world class knock and to take on two of the best-death bowlers in the world was outstanding.

Ashton Turner, the Player of the Match, said

I’m lost for words. I turned up to the ground today. Marcus Stoinis was doing his fitness test. He had a broken thumb, I thought he would play today and I would be carrying drinks. But I had to transition my mind from not playing to playing. I had a lot of confidence. I was ready to go if given a chance. It’s not every day that we get to play. I thought India played really well and it was a great game of cricket. Batting is lot of fun, there were a few close calls and I know that I didn’t nick that one that went upstairs. Very fortunate. Haydos has been great to me. I was privileged to get my cap from him in Hyderabad. He’s spent a lot of time with me in the nets. He’s a brilliant player of spin bowling and he’s a legend. Someone I always looked up to. It’s nice to hear nice things from him. I try my best, one of those things over here (Playing against spinners).