[rovingeye]

And Maxi goes. Will they get to 220? Looks difficult now.

161/6 (34.5/50 ov)

[suhaas307]

Australia has failed to complete their quota of 50 overs in an ODI!

Chahal finishes with astonishing figures (6/42). Shami and Kumar also bowled really well. Looks like a great bowling effort by the Indian team, in spite of so many changes to the squad.

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by suhaas307

... Looks like a great bowling effort by the Indian team, in spite of so many changes to the squad.

Good signs moving into the World Cup. Shows the bench strength.

Only jittery part remaining is probably the unstable middle order. Hope that gets sorted & this team looks all set to tear through to semis atleast easily.

As I say that, good to see dhoni at No.4. With his current strike rate he is more suited at no.4 to stabilize the innings in case of top order collapse rather than pinch hitting at No 6. Hope he justifies his spot by playing another good knock today. Its needed. And kohli goes business as usual piling up more runs. But Australia somehow seems to have already given up. Dropped catches, missed run out chances.

Edit : With Kohli gone, platform all set for Dhoni to do what he does best.

[Eddy]

We are making heavy weather of the chase unnecessarily.

(I am only following commentary online, so don't really know how the pitch is behaving)

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by Eddy

We are making heavy weather of the chase unnecessarily.

(I am only following commentary online, so don't really know how the pitch is behaving)

Some good pressure cricket going on. The pitch is a bit sticky with some balls holding up. Both seamers and spinners have something in it for them and lots of chances being created. Both sides have struggled to score freely thus far.

Feel the situation is right up Dhoni's alley as of now with him set and past that early slow phase of his innings. Maxwell dropped a sitter off Dhoni's first ball! Then a nick off Siddle which no one noticed. A couple of run out chances too missed by Australia. Dhoni is living a charmed life for sure.

[hemanth.anand]

If Dhoni can pull this off, no one will speak against him till the Worldcup!

[Zappo]

I am seriously not sure why we are taking this down to a 10 Asking Rate! With only 3 wickets down I think this is befuddling!

[rovingeye]

Originally Posted by Zappo

I am seriously not sure why we are taking this down to a 10 Asking Rate! With only 3 wickets down I think this is befuddling!

I think its not that easy, this pitch. If one of Dhoni and Kedar try to hit and fall, the new batsman will find it difficult to finish the game.

[strawhat]

Like him or not, Dhoni is still a great finisher. The pressure of asking rate hasn't affected him and he has stayed calm as always. His best quality has once again come into fore. He was fortunate with the drops, sure. Still, no one will question his selection for the WC, I think.

Huge props to Kedar Jadhav as well for playing the aggressor. He became the perfect partner for the slow burning Dhoni. Both complemented each other pretty well.

This series win will give so much confidence going to NZ. Bring on you Kiwis!

[hemanth.anand]

Nice way to wrap up the tour - Unbeaten in series of all formats.
It's good to see Virat Kohli not being the sole performer from India. being over reliant on one single person is not good (we still are very much dependent on him). Below is a short summary of the tour which shows this


On a lighter note...somebody please shut our coach's mouth please

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Attachment 1838441

Thanks - nice graph/statistics!

On a realistic note, this match was won by the team that fielded better - Australia dropped several catches; two of Dhoni, two of Kohli; two run-outs (one Kohli, one Jadhav) and a few other sloppy/missed attempts - key was a inside edge keeper catch that Maxwell only seemed to appeal for; but went quiet as no one else went up. Even Dhoni knew he had edged that.


A great end to the Australian saga; while records have been broken, I'll wait for the NZ series to really see if we have the best ODI team (in principle, not statistics-wise) in the world!

[NPV]

Originally Posted by strawhat

Like him or not, Dhoni is still a great finisher.

This topic was being discussed in great detail by the commentary team also today and I agree with the general view that he is now in a phase where he cannot win it single handedly in such finishes. He needs one or two batsmen at the other end to lend him some support and that is still fine, we need a team playing well to win rather than just depending on a hero on that day.
I just hope the middle and lower order comes good just in time for the world cup, that will be the real test in critical situations.

[WindRide]

Alright, so having beaten what was at best an A team with disappointing scorelines, India now travels to NZ where the host team and conditions will stretch our boys and make it a really tough series. Looking forward to it without much expectations.

[srishiva]

Not completely about cricket. This morning I though about Sachin getting a photo with Roger Federer and Federer losing his wimbledon match next day or something.
Now photo with Kohli and poor guy loses :( Bad co-incidence.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by WindRide

Alright, so having beaten what was at best an A team with disappointing scorelines, India now travels to NZ where the host team and conditions will stretch our boys and make it a really tough series. Looking forward to it without much expectations.

That's a bit too harsh on this young Indian team, must give them credit where it's due. Australia have had weak teams in the past and have still managed to remain unbeaten in a series played at home (Australia). It's a first for India and we cannot take away anything from their performance and the well deserved results on this tour - T20 series tied, Test series won (first in 71 years), ODI Series won