India Tour of Australia 2019: The Combined ODI XI
One of the most riveting tours of the recent times, the India tour of Australia has come to an end with India defeating the hosts with seven wickets in hand and thereby clinching the ODI series. The Virat Kohli-led has had a grueling 2-month tour where they completely dominated the hosts in all three formats of the game.
It all started for the visitors with the three-match T20I series ending 1-1 and then the path-breaking historic test series triumph and finally concluded by their maiden bilateral series win Down Under.
With the World Cup just around the corner, both teams have done reasonably well in finding the solidity with their missing links. While India has almost got their middle order vows sorted out, Australia, on the other hand, is only concerned about the poor form of their skipper, Aaron Finch.
As we conclude the historic tour, let us now have a look at the best combined ODI XI from the India tour of Australia that performed exceptionally well in the series.
Openers
#1 Rohit Sharma
The quintessential Indian opener had a good outing in this ODI series. He started the series with a fighting ton of 133 off 129 balls in the series opener which almost took India home and then followed it up with a quick-fire 52-ball-43 that set the tone for India's chase in the 2nd ODI before getting out cheaply to a poor shot at the MCG.
In the 3 matches, the 31-year-old scored 185 runs at an excellent average of 61.67 and strike rate of 93.43 and finishing as the 3rd highest run-getter of the series.
#2 Shaun Marsh
The elder Marsh was definitely the standout batsman for the hosts. Marsh looked a completely different player in the ODIs than what he was a couple of weeks back in whites. In fact, he has been one of Australia's most consistent batsmen in the ODIs in recent times.
The 35-year-old has scored a fighting half-century in the series opener before scoring a brilliant 123-ball-131 to register his 7th ODI ton in the 2nd match of the series. He followed it up with a decent 54-ball-39 in the 3rd ODI.
The southpaw finished as the leading run-getter of the series with 224 runs at an outstanding average of 74.67 and a more than decent strike rate of 90.69.