By Sanchit Gupta

India made a laughing stock of an exceptional Australian batting effort to post 359-5 in the alloted 50 overs by spriting to their target in just 43.3 overs and winning the match by 9 wickets,all thanks to 3 incredible innings from Rohit Sharma(141 of 123 balls), Shikhar Dhawan(95 of 86 balls) and Virat Kohli(100 of 52 balls).

The Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, Rajasthan which is home to two Australian players,Shane Watson and James Faulkner who play for Rajasthan Royals in the IPL was treated to an absolute run feast as over 700 runs were scored and much to the delight of the home fans,The Indian Team came out triumphant.It wasnt a day when a bowler could proudly say the fact that he was a "bowler" as Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the only player on either side to end the game with an economy rate of less than 6 and only 4 wickets were taken by the bowlers in the whole course of the match.

Earlier, Australia won the toss and once again chose to bat which has been their strategy all through the series.Both teams were unsurprisingly unchanged for the match.India's decision of not changing their bowling combination backfired as they were clobbered for 359 runs in 50 overs with each of the top 5 Australian batsman scoring a 50 atleast. A steady opening partnership between Finch(50 of 53 balls) and Hughes(83 of 103 balls) set the tone for a big score. Shane Watson returned to form with a fluent 53 of 50 balls.Glenn Maxwell added more woes to the Indian camp with his knock of 53 of 32 balls.But,the skipper,Bailey was the man who took his side to a huge score by batting till the end,smashing 92 of just 50 balls.

India's bowling continued to be mediocre and wayward with hardly a memorable delivery bowled all day.Australia smashed 12 sixed and 36 fours with the Indian team appearing clueless on how to stop the onslaught.

Chasing a massive 360 to win,India's openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma started cautiously but still managed to keep the required rate within bounds.The duo added 176 for the opening wicket in just 26 overs before Dhawan was caught behind off the bowling of Faulkner.Kohli came in to bat at number three with India still needing another 184 to chase down Australia's mammoth 359 run target.He along with Rohit was involved in an unbroken 186-run stand for the second wicket as India reached the target with 39 balls to spare.Virat Kohli scored the fatest hundred by an Indian batsman in ODIs as he smashed an unbeaten 100 off just 52 balls,overtaking Virender Sehwag's record of a hundred off 60 balls that he made against New Zealand in 2009.In his record-breaking knock, Kohli stroked eight boundaries and seven sixes.His shots were pure cricketing strokes and not slogs that one generally associates with power-hitting and limit over cricket.

India's run chase of 360 was the best ever by an Indian side and the second best of all time.

The teams will now head to Mohali wehere they will resume the battle with the series tied at 1-1.

9/10/2023 04:54:03 am

Great post, thanks for writing

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