Indian team continues to shine on home soil; defeats Australia comprehensively

Nagpur, October 2: India’s dominance on the field continues and defeated Australia comprehensively in the fifth ODI match that was played in Nagpur and won the series by 4-1. Notably, India also regained their No. 1 ODI ranking, after a momentary slip.

 

India registered a comprehensive 4-1 series win over Australia in the 5 match ODI series. In the 5th ODI at Nagpur, opener Rohit Sharma’s century and spinner Axar Patel’s three wickets for 38 runs guided Indian cricket team to win the match against Australia on Sunday.

Chasing a decent total of 243, India won the match with 43 balls still to go with Manish Pandey hitting the winning four. Rohit not only completed his 14 ODI century over the course of his masterful knock but also became the ninth Indian to reach the 6000-run mark in ODIs. Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane put on a 124-run partnership in 22.3 overs which virtually sealed the match in India's favour.

Rohit Sharma, in particular, was absolutely majestic in his 125 from 109 balls. Hardik Pandya who got Man of the Series with 200 plus runs at number four position and a handful of wickets, was central to most things that went well for India.

India overtook South Africa in ODI rankings to become the no.1 team and a loss once again might drag them back to the second place. After the ODI series, the two teams will play three Twenty-20 matches. The first T-20 will be played in Ranchi on Saturday.