Rohit Sharma led the charge with a vintage 121 — his 33rd ODI century — while Virat Kohli remained unbeaten on 74, as the duo turned back the clock in amazing style and got India a stunning nine-wicket consolation win over Australia at the Sydney Cricket Ground here on Saturday.
Australia had started brightly, but India clawed back through disciplined bowling, as Harshit Rana’s decisive spell of 4-39 helped the visitors bowl out the hosts for 236. India’s reply was assertive from the outset – Rohit and Shubman Gill put on 68 for the opening stand before Josh Hazlewood removed the latter.
That brought Rohit and Virat together, as India’s most experienced batting pair justified their high ceiling. Rohit’s strokeplay was crisp in hitting 13 fours and three sixes in his 121 not out off 125 balls, while Kohli’s composure was unwavering in hitting an unbeaten 74 off 81 deliveries, laced with seven boundaries.
Together, the duo stitched an unbeaten 168-run partnership in an absolute chasing masterclass and ensured India ended the series with a statement win by reaching home with 11.3 overs to spare and avoiding a clean sweep defeat to Australia.
Earlier, despite all six top Australian batters getting starts, Matthew Renshaw’s 56 off 58 was the highest score, thus summing up their innings. Rana, under pressure coming into the game, delivered in the latter stages to slice through the middle and lower order to pick a memorable four-fer.
Every Indian bowler chipped in with a wicket as Australia lost their last six wickets for just 53 runs. Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Washington Sundar applied the squeeze and struck regularly between overs 11–40 to stall Australia’s momentum after Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head added 61 for the opening wicket.
Head broke the shackles with a flick off Siraj in the third over, while Prasidh Krishna’s return to ODIs was met with aggression, as Marsh hit a six off his first ball and followed it with another boundary. Head reached 3,000 ODI runs with a single, and Australia moved to 44/0 by the seventh over.
Short subsequently fell to a sharp catch by Kohli at square leg off Sundar. Alex Carey survived a dropped chance on eight but was later dismissed by a tumbling catch from Shreyas Iyer, who injured his left side and walked off in discomfort.
Renshaw looked fluent, bringing up his fifty with minimal risk, but was trapped lbw by Sundar after missing a flick. Australia’s collapse continued as Mitch Owen edged to slip off Rana, Kuldeep castled Starc, and Ellis hit three boundaries before falling to Prasidh. Rana wrapped up the innings with two wickets in three balls – Connolly caught at long-off and Hazlewood’s defence breached – to set the base for Rohit and Virat to lead India to a memorable win.
BRIEF SCORES: Australia 236 all out in 43.4 overs (Matthew Renshaw 56, Mitchell Marsh 41; Harshit Rana 4-39, Washington Sundar 2-44) lost to India 237/1 in 38.3 overs (Rohit Sharma 121 not out, Virat Kohli 74 not out; Josh Hazlewood 1-23) by nine wickets
Kohli becomes second-highest run-getter in ODIs
Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli on Saturday broke another record as he became the second-highest run-getter in the One day international (ODI) format.
Kohli, who endured a subdued form in the first two ODIs against Australia, broke the shackles and announced his return on the international stage. The No.3 batter, who is famously known as ‘Chase Master’, hammered his 75th ODI fifty and also completed 2500 runs against Australia in the format.
During the course of his innings, Kohli surpassed Sri Lanka great Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 14,234 runs (in 404 ODIs) in his 293rd ODI innings.
The former India captain is now only behind legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar, who is sitting at the top of the table with a massive tally of 18,426 runs.
However, Kohli boasts a better average than Tendulkar or any of the top 10 batters in the list. He averages 57.69 in 305 ODIs played so far, while Tendulkar’s average stood at 44.83 in his 463-match ODI career.
With Kohli at the fag end of his career and only playing in the 50-over format, it is likely that the Delhi batter will finish his ODI career as the second-highest run getter behind his idol Tendulkar.
Coming to the match, Kohli made an unbeaten 74, including seven fours, and was involved in a 168-run match-winning partnership with opener Rohit Sharma, who smashed his 33rd ODI ton and 50th international century. The duo guided India to a nine-wicket consolation victory at Sydney Cricket Ground as Australia sealed the series 2-1.
Rohit was named Player of the Match and Player of the Series as well for amassing 202 runs across three matches.
The two teams will now face each other in a five-match T20I series, commencing on October 29.