IND vs AUS: Australia attain number one spot in ODIs after 2-1 series win over India
Australia attain number one spot in ODIs after 2-1 series win over India
Australia beat India by 21 runs on Wednesday in Chennai to claim the three-match ODI series 2-1 and the number one spot in the ICC ODI rankings. This win also accounted for Australia ending India’s four-year-long ODI series winning streak at home in this format. Ironically, it was Australia only that last beat them in an ODI series (3-2) at home in 2019. As things stand, with 113 rating points, Australia is the new number-one ODI team in the world.
At the start of this year, firstly India beat Sri Lanka 3-0 and then thumped New Zealand with the same margin in the following series to take the number one spot from England in ODIs. A month and a half later, they returned to the second spot.
Meanwhile, an injury-hit Australian teamwas without two of their premier seamers in regular captain Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, while their star all-rounder Glenn Maxwell was also benched for this game. As thisseries was tied at 1-1 with Australia making a comeback after a massive ten-wicket win in the previous match in Vizag, Chennai played as the decider that turned out to be a heartbreak for the Indian fans.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat. They brought in fit-now David Warner, who surprisingly didn’t open as Australia persisted with the successful opening combination of Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh. The pair flourished as they stitched a 68-run stand for the first wicket before Hardik Pandya struck three wickets to pull India back into the game.
While Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav kept picking wickets at regular intervals, resistance from the lower order ensured Australia reach 269 in the first innings.
Unlike how it started in the previous two games, India’s innings this time was right on the track as Shubman Gill and captain Rohit Sharma slammed Mitchell Starc to all parts of the ground. While Australia’s premier seamer didn’t provide his team with the breakthrough, Sean Abbot got rid of Rohit initially.
A couple of overs later, Adam Zampa trapped Shubman Gill in the front. Virat Kohli and India’s first-match hero KL then steadied the ship with a 69-run partnership before two quick wickets hurt India’s momentum. It was about the time before Ashton Agar struck gold, removing Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav on successive deliveries to put the hosts under further pressure.
Though Hardik Pandya did play an anchor role later on, he too lost his wicket soon after, as Adam Zampa added two to his name, almost ending India’s hope of winning the series and safeguarding their number one spot. Australia wrapped India on 248 and won the game by 21 runs.
