IND vs AUS 4th ODI: Australia seals first win on India tour

Bengaluru: Finally Australia registered its first victory in the ongoing ODI series against India by winning the fourth match by 21 runs at the M Chinnaswamy ground here on Thursday.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that a decision by Virat Kohli to withdraw a quick single while batting with Rohit Sharma turned out to be extremely nasty as the latter was run out when he was looking at his belligerent best at 65 runs off only 55 balls with one four and five humongous sixes.

After playing a cut shot to the back-foot point region, Kohli called for the single. But the ball was brilliantly stopped on its way by Aussie skipper Steve Smith. At the time his throw crossed the stumps at the batting end, both the batsmen were found at the same end.

The throw was collected by Peter Handscomb who was backing up, and despite Rohit returned to the non-striker end with full force, he could not run faster than the throw and was finally found well short by Kane Richardson.

Coming in to chase down a huge target of 335 runs, India got off to the most desired start as the openers added 106 runs for the first wicket. Ajinkya Rahane played a sensible inning of 53 runs off 66 balls hitting 6 fours and a six.

Kohli also failed to last long and went back after scoring 21 runs off 21 balls with 3 boundaries. Hardik Pandya and Kedhar Jadhav somehow consolidated the India's inning by adding 78 runs for the fourth wicket.

Demoting Manish Pandey, who likes to construct his inning, turned out to be a bad decision as he started off nicely but could not go beyond 33 runs off 25 balls hitting 3 fours and a six. MS Dhoni also failed this time to finish off the proceedings in India's favour as he scored 13 runs off 10 balls with 1 four and a six.

Axar Patel, who is considered a big-hitting all-rounder, could score 5 runs off 6 balls. Mohammed Shami (6 off 6) and Umesh Yadav (2 off 2) remained unbeaten as India was restricted at 313/8 in 50 overs.

Richardson was the pick of the bowlers as he picked 3 wickets for 58 runs in 10 overs. Nathan Coulter-Nile also grabbed two wickets for 56 runs in 10 overs. Pat Cummins and Adam Zampa also managed to get one wicket each.

Earlier, in the lines of some terrific knocks of David Warner, Aaron Finch and Peter Handscomb, Australian Cricket team posted a 334-run mammoth total.

Player of the match: David Warner

Coming in to play for pride after already losing the series 3-0, Australia decided to bat first and was given the most amazing start by the openers David Warner and Aaron Finch, as the pair added 231 runs for the first wicket in 35 overs.

Warner, who was playing his 100^th One-Day International (ODI) for Australia, scored a tremendous ton scoring 124 runs off 119 deliveries hitting 12 fours and 4 sixes. His opening partner Finch also played a brilliant inning of 94 runs off 96 deliveries with the help of 10 fours and 3 sixes. He, unfortunately, missed his second ton of the series and got out in the next over.

Also Read: IndvsAus: Australia sets mammoth 335-run target against India

After removing the openers, Indian bowlers did a great job in not allowing the Aussies score freely in the remaining 14 overs. During the last 84 balls, the Kangaroo batsmen could only pile up 103 runs and lost 3 wickets.

Travis Head began his inning calmly but got out as soon as he tried to accelerate the scoring rate. He got out after scoring 29 runs off 38 balls with a four and a six. Skipper Steve Smith, who demoted himself to No. 4 looking at the circumstances, also failed to perform and got out at the individual score of 3 runs off 5 balls.

Peter Handscomb played a crucial role in helping Australia get past the 300-run mark as he scored 43 runs off only 30 deliveries with 3 fours and a six. Marcus Stoinis exploited the final over of the inning bowled by Mohammad Shami as he scored 15 runs off 9 balls with 1 four and a six. Matthew Wade remained unbeaten at 3 runs off 3 balls.

Umesh Yadav was the pick of the bowlers for India as he bagged 4 wickets in his 10 overs. He, however, conceded 71 runs. Kedar Jadhav was the only other wicket-taker for India as he picked up the most important wicket of Warner. He went for 38 runs in his 7 overs.

India will soon come back on the ground to chase down the mammoth target of 335 runs.