Virat Kohli’s men became the first team to return from Australia without losing a single series, having won the Test series 2-1 and drawn the T20 Internationals 1-1. From a dasher to a finisher to finally the anchor in the last leg of his career, Dhoni was in full flow during India’s successful chase of 231 in the third and final ODI on a sluggish Melbourne pitch after Yuzvendra Chahal set it up with a career-best 6/42.
“It wasn’t an easy wicket to bat on, so it was important to take the game deep,” said India skipper Virat Kohli in the post-match presentation. “Two set batsmen were there who knew what to do and they got the job done. We’ve been here a long time, it’s been an amazing tour. We drew the T20 series, won the Test series and now the ODIs. If you had given me these results before the tour, I would have gladly taken it,” he said.
Dhoni’s unbeaten 87 off 114 balls was a testimony to his high-quality match awareness as the street-smart Kedar Jadhav (61 no; 57 balls) donned the role of finisher. The former India skipper’s role going into the business end of his illustrious career is that of an anchor, who takes the game deep. He performed his role to perfection with world-class exhibition of running between the wickets in what could well be his last match on Australian soil. Not to forget the ‘Man of the Series’ award for a hat-trick of half-centuries, with two of them coming in winning causes.
While Dhoni was lucky to be dropped on 0 and 74, the Australian bowling never had the sting to unsettle the Indian batsmen despite skipper Virat Kohli (46) being dismissed with more than 100 runs left. Chasing 231, India got off to a slow start as well. Australia created some good pressure with the new ball, in particular Jhye Richardson (1-41), who tied down Rohit Sharma.
While Kohli and Dhoni added 54 runs off 82 balls for the third wicket, it was an uncharacteristic partnership. There were two incidents of confusion between the wickets, first in the 21st over when Kohli was stranded and was saved for a lack of a direct hit. The Dhoni-Jadhav (121 runs) partnership then took some time in settling down. In the meantime, Dhoni reached his 70th ODI half-century off 74 balls. Jadhav then soothed Indian nerves as he scored his fourth ODI half-century off 52 balls, as the equation came down to 14 off 12. He struck two fours in the penultimate over off Peter Siddle (1-56).
Yuzvendra Chahal picked up 6-42 as Australia were bowled out in 48.4 overs. Chahal matched Ajit Agarkar’s 6-42 in 2004 as he recorded the joint best One-day figures on Australian soil.
